Joust at the Net
by pensivephoenix
Summary: No longer needed back home, B applies for a job back in Boston where she and her two best friends went to school. R and A get B to join their co-ed volleyball league with the guys. B and E's paths keep almost crossing on and off the court. AU/AH
1. Changes

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. **

**Chapter 1 - Changes**

**BPOV**

"BOUNCE!!!"

"Sync?!?!? Oh my God, how have you been? Is it really you? What have you been up to? I miss you. Are you coming to visit soon? Oh please tell me you're coming to visit. Wait… Renee, how's Renee? Oh my God, please tell me she's doing alright, Sync, talk to me."

::sigh:: One story at a time, I'd rather not repeat myself too much.

"Breathe honey, slow down." I said chuckling. "I can only answer one question at a time. Now what do you want me to answer first?" Alice took an audible deep breath; I could almost hear the wheels turning so I just waited.

"How have you been my dear? I've missed you"

"I've missed you too Alice, more than you know. Actually that's kinda part of why I'm calling. I've missed you, I've missed Rose, I've missed Boston, and I've just missed everything. I'd kinda like things to be like old times again."

"Do you mean you're coming to visit?" Alice squealed out excitedly. Here goes nothin'.

"Actually, I'm moving ba…."

"YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" O-M-G, wait did I really just say that in my head? Wow, I need to get out more. Anyway, I REALLY need to get her to stop before my ears start to bleed.

"ALICE, A-L-I-C-E!!! **BOUNCE**!!!"

"Oh, oh, sorry, B, this is amazing, what do you mean you're moving back, when, how, why? Have you called Rose yet? Tell me everything."

"HAHAHA, OK, another deep breath Alice dear. Have you have any coffee today? Never mind. I don't want to know the answer to that. OK, so here's the short story I'm not needed here anymore so I was getting homesick for the old days, I put in a couple applications at the hospitals up there and I did a couple phone interviews. I got a call this morning that apparently while they were calling in my references yesterday they heard everything they wanted to hear and offered me the position. I accepted. And No, I haven't called Rose yet, she's next on my list."

"Oh my God Bells, that's fantastic. Wait, WHO? Who offered you the job?" I could practically hear Alice bouncing in place on the other line, crossing her fingers and squishing her little face into the cutest little contorted image I've ever seen on a full-grown adult, well as full-grown as you can get being Alice.

"Tufts/NEMC"

"YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

OK, this time I just pulled the phone away from my ear and let her use every last breath she held in her very large lungs. Surprisingly large lungs for such a tiny human being if you asked me, but that's besides the point. After a few seconds she stopped and I put the phone back to my ear.

"You ok Hun?"

"Holy lightheadedness Batman"

And I was done for. That line was my undoing. I laughed so hard I actually fell on my ass, right in front of the hospital. I rolled over slightly so I wouldn't hurt my already bruised tailbone on my shoes and in the process whapped my head into the bench. There was a low-pitch resounding 'Bong' and lemme tell you, it hurt. But I was still laughing, and also now crying. The perfect blond head and piercing blue eyes of Dr. Cullen now came walking over and moved my hair around in the spot I was holding inspecting for injuries I was pretty sure were minor. With my track record though, who knew. I couldn't stop the tears or the hysterical laugher that was now causing me to hiccup and yip. I looked up and Dr. Cullen was just shaking his head at me.

"Breathe Bella. Deep breaths, come on, do them with me. In, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. In, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Out, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6."

I wasn't hiccupping anymore. I could hear my name faintly from the phone in my hand. I raised the phone up to my ear.

"Alice, I'll call you back in a little bit."

"OK, I'm on my way to go pick Rose up for dinner"

"Perfect, I'll call you back and explain everything on speaker. Love, bye." And hung up the phone.

"Well Bella, looks like you'll have a bit of a knot on your head but no bleeding. Did you sprain your ankle when you fell?"

"No Dr. Cullen, I was trying not to sit on my shoe and re-bruise my tail-bone after last week's fiasco."

"Bella, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Carlisle? Oh Dear, What am I going to do with you, or rather, what am I going to do without you?"

::gasp::

Nobody knew yet, I had sent in my applications over the last few weeks and I'd gotten the call this morning. I'd had my resignation letter in my bag since that first application went out ready for the date to be filled in and handed over. I had done just that only minutes ago. But Dr. C, I mean Carlisle, was just walking into the hospital. Today was the only day during the week that I didn't work with him, how could he have known? He must have seen my confusion because he looks at me and offers me a hand up to help me onto the bench.

"Bella dear, you've work beside me since the day you arrived here five years ago. I've never had an ER nurse who was as eager to learn, quick on her feet and who anticipated not only what I was going to do next but what might be going on with the patient. I won't lie and say that I wasn't sad to get the call yesterday asking about you as a nurse, your skills and work ethic." Bells of recognition were going off all over the place. "But I also can't begin to think that working in a small hospital in Forks is challenging enough for you. You are our ER nurse. You went and got your flight-nurse certification on your own after that patient 4 years ago didn't make because we didn't have the resources and you didn't want to ever have to wait for another crew to be found if the chopper was ready and waiting. Every time we have a patient with a disease or issue you haven't seen much you scour the medical journals until you know almost as much about the possible treatment options as I do. Fact of the matter is, if you stayed here, you'd continue to get broken bones, lacerations, heart attacks and the random car or hunting accident for the rest of your career. You're much too good at what you do to sit around and twiddle your thumbs." I could only stare at this man in shock, I hadn't really thought about it like that. We'd never talked about any of this. He'd told me I was doing well, or congratulations for a job well done. I had more freedom than Jessica or Lauren, but I'd never expected this. Really what it came down to was that I was just getting stir-crazy now that my parents didn't need me anymore. I needed to be active, I needed to have my hands on something, and I needed to be busy. And the knitting Grandma Swan had started me on when I moved back sure wasn't doing the trick anymore now that every kid in forks had a full supply of baby blanket from yours truly.

"Bella, you're not the kind of person or nurse who can sit by and let life just float by, you need things to do to keep your mind active and alert." Wait, didn't I just say, I mean, think that?! "So when my old friend at NEMC called me and asked me unofficially if I had worked with you and what I could tell them… Well, in short, I told them if they didn't offer you the position it would be negligence to all of their future patients."

I just sat there in total awe. I'm pretty sure my mouth had fallen to the floor and I had not blinked in minutes. I was absolutely floored.

"Wow"

"I seemed to have surprised you a bit my dear" He actually chuckled at me. I didn't know what was more surprising. The chuckling or what he said.

"Um, well. Yeah."

"I hope nothing I've said is offensive or embarrassing."

"Um, not in the way you might think. I, um… well I… I guess I just… what I'm trying to say is..." Bella, just take a big fucking breath and spit this out, geez. "Thank you, I guess I just never realized that anyone cared or noticed or anything."

Carlisle turned to face me completely and put his hands on my shoulders.

"Bella, we do notice, and what's more important the patients notice. They feel safe with you to not only take care of them, but to know their history inside and out and to keep us docs on our toes. That's something really special. That's something that can't be trained. And it's really hard not to notice when the kids come in and they don't want their moms or dads, they want you Bella. Or Mrs. Tate last month who fell and broke her hip, she didn't call the paramedics, she called you at home. She trusted you to help her and keep her safe and get her the help she needed without causing extra pain. Honestly, I think your ability to connect with patients is why Lauren and Jessica have been so difficult to deal with for so long, but that's another story. Anyway, you will be missed greatly, but it's time for this town to let you spread your wings and fly. And I can honestly say that Boston and everything it has to offer might be just the ticket for you."

"Thank you Carlisle, I really appreciate everything you've done for me over the last five years. I can't even begin to repay you."

"That's where you're wrong. All you have to do is go out there and be yourself. That will be all the repayment I could ever ask of you."

"Thank you Carlisle"

"No, Thank you."

Then he got up off the bench and walked right into the front entrance to the hospital leaving me to think about what he said. I guess that explains why I didn't have to go in for a face-to-face interview. I'd heard of things like that happening in really rare cases. Carlisle said that he talked to an old friend so they must have trusted each others' medical judgment, but now I feel like I have HUGE expectations to live up to. I don't know how I'm going to do this. But I had to. It didn't matter, Renee didn't need me anymore, Charlie didn't need me. There was nothing holding me here and I would much rather be in Boston.

I took another couple deep breaths and thought about what needed to be done. I'd handed in my resignation to the department head at the end of my shift today. She gave me a huge hug and said good luck. So I've got two weeks left here. OK, Then it's off to Boston. My new position as ER nurse doesn't start for 3 weeks so I have a week to get there and settle in. I needed to find a place to live. I knew from living there in college that you couldn't look really far in advance for apartments, but 3 weeks to find an apartment or condo while still living here for the majority. Oh God. I needed to call Alice and Rose and see what they thought. I didn't have much to take with me. A couple suitcases worth of clothes and probably half a dozen boxes that I could ship up but finding a place to live was going to be huge. I didn't remember enough about the downtown area to be able to find a decent place to live. We always tried to live near campus which was out further on the T. The hospital was practically downtown.

OK, I won't panic. I reached for my phone and dialed Alice again.

"Hey Bells, I just picked up Rose we're driving to go pick up dinner but I can't driving a talk, new law, so here's Rose. "

There was some shuffling.

"Hey there Sync"

"Hey there yourself, Kanga" our old nicknames didn't come out often, mostly when we were feeling pretty nostalgic, but this was one of those times.

"HAHA, I never will get sick of hearing that one. I love it, gotta pay homage to the crazy-ups right?"

"Ha, something like that. So did Alice fill you in so far?"

"Well, she told me that you miss us and you're moving back. Oh and that you got a job at our hospital already, bu…"

"WAIT, WHAT? Your hospital?"

"HAHA, Hun, calm yourself. She said you got a job at Tufts/NEMC, right?"

"Yeah, that's right"

"Baby, we both work there already. Alice works in ICU, I work in the NICU. You're joining our big happy family."

"Wow" Hmm, I feel like I've said that word a lot today, maybe I should get one of those thesaurus one-a-day calendars.

"So are you going to fill us in on details? The why, when, and hows of the situation?"

"Well, the short version of why is I'm just not needed here like I used to be. And as I told Alice, I miss the two of you, and Boston and the way things were. When is… actually, Rose, am I on speakerphone?"

"No, gimme a second." There was a bit of shuffling then a click "OK, now you're on speaker"

"Hey Bella, I'm here now too, so what were you getting ready to say?"

"Rose asked when and how I was moving, That's the part I really wanted to talk to you guys about since you've been living there for so long and have more resources than I could ever try to remember. The thing is, I'll be up there in 2 weeks and my job starts in 3."

"HOLY FUCKSHIT!!!…"

"ALICE" ::Smack::

"Ow, what was that for?"

"If you don't watch the road right this minute, you're going to pull over, I'll take your keys and you won't get to see Bella when she gets here."

"::gasp:: You wouldn't dare!"

"I would, now, I talk, you drive!"

::giggle:: Oh how I miss these girls. I've needed this. I've needed this for a long long time. And now I'm just two weeks away from having my two bests back. I don't see how things could get much better than this.

"Bells, you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. So the part I need you guys to help with. I don't wanna end up with a crappy apartment like we did our sophomore year. I mean hell. I don't know if I wanna go with an apartment, townhouse, condo or what so I need to get on top of the search and I need help, but I still have two more weeks here and I'll only have a week of freedom when I get there so I need to find a good real estate agent in the area who I can work with and I didn't know if you guys could help me figure out areas to look and to avoid like the plague. I want to spend as little time as possible in the hotel. So do you guys have ideas about agents and areas to live in?"

There was a few seconds worth of silence where all I could do was bite my lip in anticipation.

"Bells hun, we can definitely round up a good agent for you in the next couple days so you can start looking. No problem in the least. Have you already gotten a hotel or flight out here or were going to drive or I dunno, what plans have you made hun?"

"Nothing yet, I'm walking home from the hospital now and just handed in my two-weeks. So I was going to try and put together a plan of action but wanted to talk to you guys first. I'm not going to bring my truck. It won't make the cross-country drive and I won't really need a car in the city anyway. So I figure I'll hold off for a while and if I need one I can go out and get one. So I was planning on getting a flight out there two Saturdays from tomorrow, I've got a couple suitcases worth of clothes and I'll have a handful of boxes I figure I can have shipped out and store somewhere."

"Bella, I want you to send me your flight info and then you're going to stay with Emmett and me till you find a place. You're not wasting your money on a hotel when I live right on the T and I've got a spare room that goes empty all the time."

"Rose, are you sure? I don't want to put you guys out, I mean Em has only met me once and…"

"And Em loved you, He went around for weeks talking about his new little sister and how he had to protect you from the skeez-balls."

"Bella, you'd better do this, she's not going to take no for an answer. Plus it'll give you more time to find the right place for you instead of settling on something cause it was available and you were freaking about time. You know how you get."

"Alright alright. Thank you Rose, I'll email you both my flight itinerary as soon as I've got it. I love you two, I'll see you soon. Enjoy dinner."

"Love you too babe, Oh and Bells, ship those boxes to my place whenever you get them packed. We'll stash em here till your ready for them."

"OK, thanks girls, see you in two weeks"

"Bye." And now the journey begins, home to book a flight and pack up my life.


	2. CrossCountry Flight

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. **

**Chapter 2 – Cross-Country Flight**

**BPOV**

1 large, 7 medium and 3 book boxes later I was walking through security and to my gate. Getting ready for a new chapter in The Life of Bella Swan. They called my flight, I was herded in through the doors, stowed my carry on and settled into my seat.

I'd been thinking back a lot in the last two weeks._ I'd remembered college, walking on campus early for volleyball and feeling so small and insignificant in such a large and beautiful place. Charlie had helped me move in, gave me an awkward hug and told me good luck and that he was proud of me. He told me mom had gotten me some extra tank tops and spandex for the new season and he said he'd gone out and gotten me some new knee pads. I didn't have the heart to tell him I hadn't worn knee pads since I was in the sixth grade, but he was trying so hard I couldn't help myself. So I flung myself into his arms and I swear I felt a tear fall into my hair. _

_Charlie left and I found my way to the team orientation. We changed, started peppering to warm up and coach decided to break us into teams to scrimmage and see how we worked together. Two teams of six and one of three. Rose, Alice and I ended up as the extra team. We kicked ass. It took all of five seconds to divvy up rolls. I'd always been a setter, since fourth grade and my coach first started separating us into positions. That was where I was home. Alice, standing at 4'11" wasn't able to play the net if her life depended on it, but she could defend the back-row like you wouldn't believe and Rose… Rose was a hitter. Pure power in a ridiculously fast approach that had me begging for the quick-set. And together, we were unstoppable, quite literally. After ten minutes of scrimmaging coach stopped us and asked if the three of us knew each other. We all stood up, look at each other, shook our heads and said no. So incredibly rare for athletes of any game to play in such harmony together within minutes. When we were together it was as if nothing else existed but the three of us on the court. Our rolls so defined and our skills quite defined. We went on to win every game that year; it was at a semifinal weekend match one of the sports writers for the papers that first picked up on some interesting similarities to the traditional volleyball mantra: Bump, Set, Kill. _

_**The Lady Sharks fought hard today and came away with a monumental win against the rival Lions. Freshman standout Rosalie Hale pounded out a staggering27 kills leading the school of Sharks to victory. Hale bounded and punched like a fighting kangaroo surprising the offense repeatedly on the net. Hale also led the game with 14 block. Assists leader in today's game was another up and coming freshman Isabelle (Bella) Swan. These two worked in tandem like no one else has ever seen, repeatedly the Lions blockers were left back on their heels wondering how the hit was set up so quickly. Swan was definitely in sync with her hitters tonight. She acted as a silent general rounding the troops and leading them bravely into battle. On the rare occasion that the Lions were able to return the ball, Libero Alice Brandon, also a freshman, was right there leading the day in digs, 29 digs for today's showing ladies and gentleman. This little fairy anticipated remarkably well and bounced all over the court today. College sports fans, we have a young team out there this year but we are obviously being led by a group of mature and strong young athletes ready to face anything. If you haven't made it out to a game this year, I highly suggest you do so, these girls are a sight to behold. **_

_It was an article we laminated and put on our fridge. The girls on the team started calling us Bounce, Sync and Kanga. It stuck. We laughed but what could we do, it was true. It didn't matter what people called us, we were there to play. We weren't in it for the glory. We were in it for the love of the game. We were in it for the love of the team. We were in it for the cathartic release when everything just goes well and working harder and harder until it does. It was our escape. Stepping on that court with my two girls was stepping into perfection. We didn't need full thoughts. We spoke in code and we read each other like books. We knew facial expressions and we knew what it meant when one of us looked away, we knew body language. Shuffling of the foot, how many bounces before a serve, tilt of the pelvis a split second before the set that changed a right-handed approach to a left-handed one. Quick twitch of the muscle next to the nose that meant somebody was itchin for a pipeline attack. We just knew. _

_It threw us off for a couple weeks our sophomore year when we got a new coach, she didn't like the silence. We set up for a game called King of the Court. Short court, teams of 3. Coach picked teams. We stood there and she unknowingly put the three of us together. Upperclassmen groaned, freshmen looked confused, we just twitched out a half grin and took the court. We never spoke, we never lost. After about 15 rounds coach blew the whistle and she was RED. She wanted to know why we weren't communicating using one of the most basic tactics out there. She threatened to spend a week on fundamentals. Our captain, Kate, raised their hands and told coach that we just didn't mess with a good thing. She told coach that the three of us had been working over the summer to teach them all how to call for, set up and execute plays silently. Don't get me wrong, you've sometimes gotta call the ball or call the lines or throw out a new option, but if things go well you can already have 2-4 approaches being made simultaneously and give the setter the option while simultaneously mind-fucking the opposing team with your sheer "telepathy". Coach told us to take 5. We spent the next week working on subtle signals to call plays and ghost approaches. _

"Ladies and Gentleman, we are now beginning our decent into Logan International airport. The sky is clear and it is a brisk 53 degrees this morning. We have enjoyed flying with you this morning and hope to see you again soon. Please wait for the pilot to turn off the' fasten seatbelt' sign before retrieving your overhead baggage or turning on your portable electronic devices."

I took a deep breath. This was it, I was here and back in Boston. The ocean, the Big Dig, Chinatown, The Common. I already had butterflies.

::DING:: Everyone was scrambling, calling their rides, checking in with loved ones. I decided to sit back and wait it out. Sure I wanted to get going but the butterflies were bad enough. I didn't want to add to my propensity for falling on my face with overhead luggage, narrow walk-ways and little old ladies in a rush to get who knows where. Nope, I was gonna sit tight. I thought about the last time I was on a plane.

_Nerves, anxiety. Twenty-one years old, days after graduation. Renee and Charlie came out for the ceremony and Mom looked like shit. She said it was the flu. After the Pomp and Circumstance I was so excited to take them to my favorite Thai restaurant in town, Brown Sugar. I'd made reservations months ago just to make sure we'd get in. We get there and Renee orders some soft noodle dish but hardly touches anything. She just keeps drinking water and sucking on ice. Finally I ask what's going on, I try to take her pulse, ask if she feels OK, should we take her to the hospital in town? Charlie won't look at me. Renee just puts her hand on my arm. _

"_Bella sweetie, we found out a couple weeks ago I have throat cancer. It's pretty advanced."_

"_Why didn't you tell me? What are your treatment options? Who are you seeing? What's going to happen next? Mom please fill me in."_

"_Bella, honey, you need to calm down. We didn't tell you because we wanted you to get though finals and have the excitement of graduation without worrying you. Nursing is a very competitive field and we didn't want all of this hard work you've done to go to waste now. Treatment is going to be surgery. They'll be removing the cancerous tissue as soon as we go back home sweety. Dr. Cullen wanted to schedule the surgery right after we found out but allowed us to postpone so we could be here for you today."_

"_Mom, how much of your throat is involved?" I didn't want to know the answer to this question but I needed to know. _

"_It looks like portions of my tongue and esophagus." WHAT?_

"_How is that possible? You've never smoked before in your life? Gran and Pop didn't either. You have absolutely no risk factors for throat/tongue cancer."_

"_Honey, the doctors tell me though it's most common to get this type of cancer from smoking or second hand smoke, it's still possible without. But no matter what, we have to get it out before it spreads. It's already pretty advanced, so we have to go in now. I'm assuming you know what the outcomes are and what we'll be dealing with afterwards?" I nodded my head. This would mean losing her ability to talk more than likely, probably trach and g-tube. Granted my mom wasn't a gormet cook, but she liked to pretend. I felt a lightning bolt run straight through my heart as silent tears burned warm trails down my cheeks. Later that evening all three of us got on a plane, we silently flew back to Washington, drove my mother to the hospital where the mother I knew was lost forever. _

"Um, Miss, do you need help getting your bag down?" A young college student asked me, seemingly coming back from spring break, freshly tan and a longing, tired look on his face. I smiled and nodded as I pointed up at my bag overhead and thanked him.

I made my way out of the plane, up the ramp and out toward baggage claim. As I hit the ominous 'point of no reentry' I heard a squeal I would recognize anywhere. I had to run out just so Alice wouldn't get tackled by the security guard as she ran forward. She squeezed me harder than I'd been hugged in five years before I heard Rose chuckle and ask if she could have a turn.

"Of course you can, I didn't fly all the way across the country in the middle of the night to be left out of some major cuddle time. Get your ass over here." Rose stepped forward and hugged me hard and true.

"I've missed you baby-girl" She whispered in my ear as tears slowly trickled down my cheek.

If felt so good to smell the slightly salty air, funny it was completely different on this coast. And it felt amazing to be back together with the two best friends a girl could have. I stepped back and wiped the tear from my cheek.

"Alright bitches, let's get this show of the road. I'm ready to show some mother-fuckers what these girls are made of." Two seconds of silence and peels of laughter.

"Bella honey, there's no court here in the airport, but I've got a sneakin suspicion we'll be doin just that sooner than you think." Alice winked at me.

Huh? But that's not what I meant.

"Shh, I haven't told her anything yet, I wanted it to wait till we at least got back and got some wine in us and it's early yet for that, can you hold in anything you Bouncy Pixie?"

I just stood there confused. I was missing something, but I literally got to the airport at like 9:30 last night to make a 10:30 flight and it is now 10:45 in the morning on a Saturday. I had slept some, but not fantastically since I was almost upright and being kicked in the back by a 4 year old. But at least there were no screaming babies, well at least not after I got pissed, stood up and told them all to give their kids pacifiers to help pop their ear drums. Three fucking infants who's parents hadn't thought to ask the pediatrician. And if they did ask the pediatrician, that's three pediatricians who should be shot. Ask any Audiologist or ENT out there, chew gum or suck on something to pop ears during a flight. And seriously, don't mess with me on an overnight coast to coast flight. I might to postal.

"Alice, what are you talking about? Of course there's no court there, but what will we be doing soon? All I wanna do is get my bags and take a nap. Oh, maybe get some breakfast. OOOOhhhhhh, Dunkin Donuts. Do they still have Dunkachinos?"

"OK, she's either really deprived or really really tired" Rose laughed a full-on belly laugh and looked down at Alice.

"Alice sweetie, she's lived how close to Seattle now for five years, Starbucks is God out there. That or Seattle's Best. Not to mention she's been flying all night in coach. Let's get the girl some breakfast and get her into bed."

"OK, OK"

We went down to the baggage carousel, grabbed my two huge bags, it up the Dunkin Donuts on our way to the car and walked out to the parking garage. I ate my breakfast sandwhich, drank my wonderful blissful hot chocolatey/coffy combination, and sat my head back on the back of the seat. That was the last thing I remember.

**RPOV**

I looked back in the rear-view mirror and Bella was knocked out. Alice was on her cell talking to Jasper about the latest costume sketches she sent over to his shop for the new show. So I reached into my bag for my Bluetooth and cell phone and hooked it onto my ear. I voice-dialed home hoping Em was home from work already.

Ring… Ring… "Hey Sexy"

"Hey Papa Bear, did you just get home?"

"About ten minutes ago, did you and Al get Bella OK?"

"Yeah, actually that's part of why I'm calling."

"Everything alright hun?"

"Yeah, it's just that she kinda passed out in the back seat and I can tell that it's the deep kind. She's not gonna wake up for a while. When we get home can you help us get her in to the guest room so she can sleep for a while?"

"Awwwww, my Bella-Boo's already takin a nap? I wanted to mess with her some. Man. HAHA. Alright, Do I have about 10 minutes to take a quick shower? I smell like sweat and grass. Edward and I had to get in a full 18 before the annual Spring Break Tournament so we were rushin a bit today."

"Ooh, you know how I like the smell of grass on you."

"I know baby, but Bella-Boo there might not when she gets all snuggly not to mention aren't we hanging out with the gang the rest of today?"

"Alright alright, yeah, you've got 10, 12 actually according to our dear GPS friend, so hop-to my monkey man."

"You got it sexy-mama, see ya soon."

I ended the call and hear giggling. I look up in the rear-view but Bella's still passed out. Then I realize Alice isn't on her phone call anymore.

"Ehem, So when is Jasper heading over?"

"He said he'd be here about 12:30 with lunch and we can decide what to do from there. Are the guys back at the house?"

"Actually that's a good question. Em was for sure, but it sounded like he was alone. I wonder was dear ol Edward is up to. He knew we wanted to introduce him, and reintroduce Jasper to Bella today with backyard BBQ style atmosphere. We'll have to ask Em when we get there. I asked him if he could help us take her up for a nap when we get there. She's out for the count."

"Yep, she's pullin her arms up and in. Hopefully we can get her settled before she starts talkin, just in case."

We drove in silence for the next few minutes and as soon as I pulled into the driveway, Em pulled open the door and walked out lookin oh so delicious in a pair of jeans and a thin long sleeve sweater pulled up to his elbows and his hands in his pockets. He pointed back and forth between the sides of the car asking which side Bells was on and we pointed to let her know. And damned if my man wasn't hot leanin in and pulling Bella out so smoothly and quietly, yummy. Alice helped open the doors for him while I started grabbing her bags from the car. I figured we'd leave everything in the front hall until she woke up. No need to make extra noise.

Alice and Em came back down as I was bringing in the last bag.

"Is that everything baby?"

"Yeah, I figure we'll just leave it here till she wakes up, she deserves a nap after flying all night. Hey, where's Edward, I thought he was going to come back with you after golf this morning?"

"He got called into work as we were walking back to the car. One of the patient's he's been working with went into labor so he may or may not swing by later." Alice tilted her head like a confused puppy.

"But I thought he was doing his orthopedic rotation right now."

"That was the plan, but there's been a dry spell of births lately and we've got a couple extra residents this year because of some grant so Edward and two of the other ER residents volunteers to do a little bit of floating so he's been doing a little bit of both. His attending are just having to try very hard to play nice in the sandbox. It's actually quite funny to watch. Since there are three residents floating at the moment that's six different attending all sharing their residents and it's causing some interesting mutterings in the hallways I'm being told. I'm just glad I get to play with the itty-babies all day and not deal with giant-egos."

"Come on Rose, it can't be that bad." I just gave Em 'the look', you know the one. The 'you can't be serious' look. Alice snorted.

"Alright, who wants a beer?" Alice got up and walked straight to the fridge.

"ME, ME, I do, I do!!!" Em was bouncing in his chair, raising his hand.

"Al, it's not even noon yet." I eyed her as she stood up and gracefully walked right over to the fridge and took out three cold beers and handed them out.

"So what. It's Saturday. We're not working. Out best friend who we haven't seen in three years just moved back into town and we've got the synergy of Bounce, Sync, Kanga to celebrate!"

It was Em's turn to pull the confused puppy look out and it was absolutely adorable. I walked up and sat on his lap just to give him a big noisy kiss on the cheek, laughing the whole time. His dimple came out but it only partially took care of the confused puppy look.

"Alright, but let's take this party on the slow side till Bells wakes up and we can tell her about your little reunion plans. I just hope she'll be OK with it, I dunno if she's done anything in since she left Boston."

"She'll be OK with it, I just _know_ it. It's others we'll have to convince." Ahh Alice and her 'knowing' ways. She never could explain how well she could read the other team. Coaches used to chalk it up to reading body language well. She's just giggle her little tinkerbell laugh and skip happily away.

"HELLO HELLO Ladies and Germs, I've got Grub!!!" Jazz burst through the door with bags and bags of fixins for our family style weekend lunches. There was potato salad, pasta salad and macaroni salad from the deli, freshly sliced meat and cheeses, lettuce, tomatoes, apples and our favorite cinnamon swirl bread.

"Jazzy baby, shhh. Bella's sleeping. Poor thing couldn't fall asleep on the flight really, had a large Duncachino when she landed and still passed out cold."

"Ooh, sorry. I'll go put this stuff in the kitchen. Do we wanna go ahead and eat or wait till Bella wakes up?"

"I just put her up in the guest room about 30 minutes ago, but if she's anything like Rose, the caffeine will hit her in about 45 min to an hour and she'll wake up again. I'll get started on the tea and that way all we've gotta do when Bella-boo wakes her pretty little head is slice the apples and we're ready to go." Since Jazz grew up in Texas, he had brought with him the affinity for sweet tea. Unfortunately being in New England, that meant it was almost impossible to find and when you did it just wasn't the same.

_Alice and Jazz had been working together since college and we'd hung out in passing. He'd come to parties we'd had or we'd go to an opening night for a show Alice and helped design costumes for that he had been working on. But they hasn't been dating then and it wasn't often so Jazz and Bells didn't really know each other. Actually none of us really dated in school. The nursing program here was really competitive and they weren't push-overs. Nothing below a B. Literally. There was no scraping by. If you got a C as a final grade in the class, there was no academic probation, you were done. I don't really remember if things were graded of curves or not, you'd hope not right? I mean say we got a crappy instructor for blood drawing and we all did horribly on the practical, would you want a bunch of arm-bruisers out there? HA, it's laughably wrong. I digress. School was hard, and competitive. Luckily the three of us had each others' backs. If we weren't in class, we were in the library or at home quizzing each other and if we weren't there we were at practice or at the gym, probably still quizzing each other. We didn't let each other fail and we didn't let each other freak. When stress levels went up, we hit the gym or we hit the ball. The night security guard at school was an old family friend of Alice's and she used her pixie charm to get a spare key and promised we'd always leave it exactly how we left it or better (we always dusted the floors before we blew off steam). Bells would set against the wall for a few while and Al and I would Pepper. Then we'd all get together. Either Bells or I would call it and try running trick play or something, Al would dig it up from the other side and back up to Bells on this side and start all over again. I've gotta hand it to both my girls. I always thought those nights were mostly for me, ya know, getting to pound the shit out of the ball till I couldn't feel my hand anymore. But one night close to finals one year Bells just got up and said she needed to meditate and changed to go to the gym, Al came out of her room and said that she was 'ready to run off all her nervous energy' and it hit me. We worked. We were a team. I needed to hit something, Bells needed to zone out/zone in, and Al needed to run. Three completely different personalities together for one common goal. One piece to the whole. We were a team, and a family. And I loved them with all my heart. _

_When Bells left after graduation, we barely got to say goodbye. She called us on her way from the restaurant and said that she was flying home that night. We were surprised, but when she told us what Charlie and Renee and had told her, we knew she had to go. We helped her pack what she could take back and told her we'd ship the rest. We called, we emailed but it wasn't the same without her. Bells applied for a job at the local hospital almost immediately and was hired virtually the next day. They were really flexible about her having time off to work around her mom's surgery schedule. It was a small town, family came first. We were happy she was home where she was needed and had a job she loved to keep herself occupied but we were sad for our own loss. Selfish but true. Al and I had a bit of a harder time finding work. We both wanted to work in one of the hospitals but it's pretty competitive in a city like Boston, and this was where we'd found a home. So we started off working in nursing homes and kept out ears to the ground. After about a year and a half it panned out, we both got hired at NEMC within a few months of each other. We were happy, but we still missed Bella. _

"Rosie baby, do you want some tea? Where were you there sexy? You OK?"

"I'd love some, thank you. I'm OK, just thinking of old times. It's good to have Bells back. I missed her." My big man wrapped his big arms around me and I nuzzled into his shoulder. We could hear Alice giggling softly in the living room and a soft chuckle from Jazz. Who knew what those two were up to.

"I know baby, but she's here now. Any idea why she's back now? Did she seem OK when you guys picked her up?"

"She just seemed tired and a little cranky really. She never said why she was coming back really. All she told us these last couple weeks was that she wasn't needed out there anymore. I know Renee's had a really hard time since we graduated. The surgery was about as bad as we all thought it would be and hoped it wouldn't and she ended up with the trach and g-tube and with little muscle control over her mouth and jaw. She aged so much in so little time. I know Renee and Bells took ASL classes and learned to sign as soon as she was out of the hospital so Renee could talk to Bells but Bells always felt like Charlie needed her too. He couldn't cook or clean to save his life. But Bells will tell us when the time is right. She was never one to make rash decisions. If she's here because she's no longer needed, it's because she's no longer needed. I trust her. I always have, I always will." Em's arms just circled me tighter. And we just sat there sipping our tea listening to the birds chirping on the deck and playing in the birdbath.


	3. CatchUp

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. **

**Chapter 3 – Catch-up**

**BPOV**

My eyes felt heavy but my heart was jumping out of my chest. I stayed still for a few minutes before I realized I had to pee like a racehorse. What the fuck was going on inside of my chest and why the hell am I awake I feel like I could be Rip Van Winkle at the beginning of his very long sleep. Ahhhh, caffeine. It all makes sense now. I reach up to my eyes and rub the sleep out of them but it's too bright. The walls are white not steely blue. Where am I? I sat and realize I've gotta be in Rose and Em's guest bedroom. Somebody had taken off my shoes and thrown a blanket on me. I looked around but I don't see any of my bags. It's still pretty bright outside so it can't be too late. Hmm… I pull open the door to look for the bathroom and hear some laughing from down the stairs. Jackpot!!! Potty-time. I pop across the hall and empty my pea-size bladder of that massive Dunkachino that is now plaguing me. There is no better feeling in the world. OK, maybe I'm lying, but there aren't many. As I'm washing my hands mentally singing Happy Birthday, I look up in the mirror and realize my hair is an absolute haystack and laugh to myself. Ten hrs on a plane, falling asleep in the car and a couple hrs nap in the guest bed does wonders for a girls lions main huh? So I flatten it as best I can which actually makes it worse and decide to head down to the waiting wolves. I sneak down as quietly as possible and sit on the 3rd to last step. I just watch as both of my favorite girls are sitting on their boyfriends laps smiling and giggling. All of the sudden Em looks up and lets out the biggest belly laugh I've heard in a long long time.

"Belly Boo, If you wanted to pretend to be Simba, we could have tried to get you a job at the Zoo instead. I'm sure they need some Vet techs." ::smack:: And I officially love Rose.

"Hey guys, anybody know where my bags are, It seems my hair doesn't like sleeping in funny positions and static electricity and such." Snorts were coming from the couch, but Rose got up glaring daggers at Em and walked into the front hall to show me where my bags were still hanging out. I dug out my brush and started untangling the mess. Alice got asked if I wanted sweet tea or a beer. I opted for the later, and Rose asked if I was hungry. I nodded emphatically. Alice came over to me.

"Bella, I know it's been a while since you've met, but this is Jasper. We hung out some in college before he and I started dating but I wanted to officially introduce you again." I switched my brush into my other hand and reached my hand out to his. He shook mine swiftly and firmly.

"It's lovely to meet you again Bella, this one has been very excited for you to get here. More so than usual." And he winked at me. He knew her well.

"I'm glad to be back. It seems you have a way with her, that is, unless you've somehow convinced her to start taking sedatives in the last couple years?" Jasper smirked and me and shook his head. "Nope darling, we just work well together."

"Bella-Boo are you hungry?" Came a shout from the kitchen. "We were waiting on you to get started with lunch. We thought you probably hadn't had any good food lately and you could use a good lunch. We like to get together whenever everybody's got off, after games or shows to eat and just relax. The girls made sure they were off today. Jasper got off a little while ago and Edward and I were supposed to be off all day, but he got called in, you'll have to meet him later."

"Wow, that's awesome you guys can get together so much. I feel like I've missed out on so much." Em stopped washing the lettuce and gave me a big bear hug. "It's OK Bella-Boo, you're here now and can have as much fun as you want."

I sighed, "Thanks Em. For a guy that hardly knows me you sure are one of the sweetest guys I've ever met. How'd you get to be this way?"

"I dunno" He shrugged. "I guess I was just born like this." And then he added a dimple and a grin. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, what do you need my help with?" I asked looking at the bags of ingredients that we laid out over the counter.

"OK, we're going to make the best sandwich in the world." I eyed him suspiciously. "Seriously, now set the ingredients up in this order: loaf of bread, mayo, turkey, space for the apple, another loaf of bread, the second jar or mayo, a space for the tomato and the last loaf of bread." I set the last loaf of bread down, put my hands on my hips and turned over to him furrowing my brow.

"Don't look at me like that Bella-boo, this is going to be the best damn sandwich you've ever tasted, I swear. Now… can you slice a tomato?" I nodded. And he tossed it to me. The big oaf tossed me the fucking tomato!!!

"HEY!!"

"No No No, She who has soft hands does NOT get to complain about getting tossed the tomato from 4 feet away. I call BS. Now, knives are in the drawer next to the oven, cutting board is under that. Get to it Bella-Boo, my tummy's grumbly." And Rose just chuckled from the doorway watching her boyfriend abuse me. Seriously not cool. I just sat there cutting my tomatoes grumbling to myself.

"Rose? Is Bella-Boo growling? I'm going to feed her with my most amazingest sandwich from the bestest part of my heart since she one of the most amazingest people of the face of this happy happy planet and she GROWLING?!?!? ::gasp::" Em ask throwing the back of his hand to his forehead feigning distress. I couldn't help but laugh. I turned around knife in hand and it was Rose's hand to get worried.

"Bells, please put the knife down. Please please please. We don't need a repeat of Thanksgiving 2003. Oh dear God, please put the knife down." At this Alice and Jasper came rushing in the doorway and stopped abruptly. Alice started flapping her hands and hyperventilating. Jasper's hands were on her shoulders whispering calming words in her ears but not batting an eye himself. Em was standing leaning up against the counter biting his lips together watching Rose get so entirely worked up. It seemed Jasper and Em both noticed the same thing, the thing Rose and Al and not. The knife I'd chosen was one of those gimmicky Japanese knives that has a colored handle, sheath and blade so you can color code your usage. Keep Kosher, or gluten-free etc. When Em was messin with me, I decided to sheath the knife back up and start flailing it around while throwing everything right back at Em. The knife was perfectly safe as were all of us who were standing right there. But Rose and Al just hadn't looked that closely.

_Thanksgiving 2003, we'd all decided not to go home, but instead we wanted to make our own thanksgiving feast. I was chopping the green beans for green bean casserole and Rose was pulling the turkey out of the oven to check on it and move the juices around a bit, make sure it didn't dry out too much. Rose didn't know what she was doing, so she was asking me, but Alice had the music up too loudly from the living room. I turned around to yell at her to turn it the fuck down and Rose was right behind me. She scared the fuck out of me. I lost the knife and it launched at her. Luckily Rose' reaction time had always been good and her arms were in great shape and lifted the damn bird right in the way of the knife. Otherwise it would have handed right in her voice-box. Rose and I gasped right as Alice ran around the corner screaming "What???" We were all dead silent for a min until Rose finally put the turkey down on the counter. "Holy shit!!!" "Holy shit is right, no more knives for Bella!" "But she's the only one that can cook, we're gonna starve!"_

I stopped flicking the knife around and held it out for close inspection. Em took it from me and set in on the counter, Rose and Alice each took 3 steps to me and slapped me in the shoulder. I busted out laughing so hard I was doubled over. I just couldn't help it. What was I supposed to do? That was just do damn perfect. I mean come on. Jazz stepped in to the rescue.

"Alright ladies. Step up and make your sandwich. No pushin and no spittin. We all meet back in the living room with beers in 5." I headed up the end of the line watching everybody make theirs and grabbed my beer from where I'd left it. Headed to the living room and grabbed the end of the couch. I took a bite and Em was right. It was heaven in my mouth.

"It's good huh Bella- Boo?" Em just smiled.

"Yep" And I ate wordlessly.

When we were all done and leaning back patting our food babies I wanted to fall asleep again. Stupid tryptophan. But I didn't want to be ungrateful of my hosts.

"So what do you guys do for fun around here nowadays?" The guys kept staring at the ceiling, odd. But the girls guiltily looked at each other then to me. This was going to get interesting real quick.

"Bells, have you been keeping in shape?" Alice asked me with THICK faux innocence. This could only mean trouble.

"If running about 5 miles a few times a week is keeping in shape then yeah. Which by the way, is the Esplanade any safer now than it used to be?" It was Emmett that spoke next.

"Probably not. You're better off on treadmills for sure. If you're going to do the Esplanade do it during the day and don't use headphones. I can show you the areas where the known creepies hang out but it's a lot of using your head." Then it was Rose who came next while she practically held the pixie down as she was bouncing off of Jasper's lap. I was starting to get a little nervous.

"Bella, What'dya say to a game tomorrow morning? Our team just lost its setter and we were hoping you might want to fill in."

::HAHAHAHA::

"That's what's got you so worked up? Of course I'll play, what time's the game? You should know by now I'm always up for a game. Is the competition any good or is it gonna be backyard style?" Alice let out a HUGE breath of air I didn't realize she had holed up in the big ol mouth of hers and then jumped in.

"No Bells, there's more to it. See we didn't just lose our setter for the game, he left us for another team. He didn't like playing with so many girls so he found a team with the minimum number of girls who only used the girls the minimum number of times per play, you know the drill. Anyway. The fucker'd been playing with us for years and then he told us he was going to play again this season only to ditch us at the last min. The last day of registrations was the day after you called us to say you were moving her so we… well… um… ." She let that last part out all in one breath. Not much to think about here. I guess I'll just let em sweat it out for a min though. He He, Evil Bella.

"So let me get this straight. I'm calling my two best friends to beg for help to find a place to live in a ridiculously short amount of time between handing in my resignation at my old job and flying across the country to start my new job, I haven't see you girls or Emmett in three years and I haven't seen Jasper in five and within thirty minutes of me waking up from a much too short nap, you tell my sleepy ass that you want me to bail your candy asses out of a bind and set for your motherfucking turkey-assed selves? Is that it?"

"Um, We play Sunday mornings and Thursday nights" Alice said as she bit her lip. Rose was starting to smirk. She could always call my bluff damn her.

And I just stared at Alice. Not blinking. Slowly flaring my nostrils just to see how squirmy I could get her. All of the sudden my contact went blurry and I couldn't take it anymore. I busted a gut laughing. All Alice could do was cross her arms and pout.

"Oh Alice honey, I'm sorry. I still love you now tell me more about this team please." She let a smirk out and wiggled her but up off of Jasper till she was sitting right in front of me.

"OK, so, you have to wear a black shirt for now, the less writing the better." K, I can do that. I nodded. "All other clothing pieces are technically optional according to the league but I've ordered you shorts like the ones we used to use in the old days" she winked at me as if we were trying to keep a secret." I nodded again "I've got shirts at the screen-printers with everyone's last names and numbers, don't worry, you've got '8'. Oh, and I ordered you some of your socks when I ordered the shorts." Excellent, now I didn't have to find a distributer again. "Actually the shorts and socks should be getting here today. Rose and I decided we wanted them too and got some for Angela just in case. Um… So there's the six of us, Ben and Angie, and Mike. We usually have one out due to work, or whatnot." We play at The Castle in Cambridge. Rose did I miss anything?" We both looked over in her direction.

"Competition is going to be interesting this year. That setter we said we lost. He claimed to be on some international team once upon a time. He was decent but I doubted that level of play. He decided to form his own team and I know for a fact he got some guys who used to play on the Argentinean National team. I played with them a couple times at the Y before that kid rolled the ball across the court." I remember when that happened.

_I was settling mom in for the night after a looong day of treatment at the hospital. My phone rang out in the living room and I just let it go. But instead of the voicemail beep, it rang again. Mom look up and shooed me to go answer it with questions written all over her face. I was becoming more and more glad every day that we'd decided to take those sign language classes, and that my mom had such an expressive face. I ran into the other room and grabbed my phone just in time. It was Rose. "Rose, Honey, what the fuck is so impor…"_

"_Hello, hello, Ma'am, is this Bella Swan?" said a deep nervous voice. _

"_Um, yeah, who is this and what's going on?" I sank down into the couch cushions._

"_Um, well" I heard a muffled scream in the background, my heart began to race out of my chest. "I'm here with Rosalie, she told me to grab her phone and call you. We're at the gym, there's been a little accident." Although those words were by no means good. They weren't what had just been going through my head. She wasn't kidnapped. She wasn't being raped. She wasn't being tortured. Wait, Rose is screaming. Rose doesn't show pain like, ever. _

"_Sir, I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name"_

"_It's Emmett"_

"_Emmett, can you give me the quick version of what happened, please?" I heard another muffled groan and what sounded like Rose barking 'Don't do that!'._

"_OK, she was on the volleyball court. The guys told me she went up for a hit and came down on a kickball. I've got a crying six-year old from the afterschool program here who's given us the impression that he's really sorry but was trying to send the ball to his brother and didn't know the game was going on." Typical, balls are always supposed to be rolled under the net not thrown over, but they're supposed to be rolled over on the side, off-court. Absolutely NOT under a hitters feet during a drill or game. _

"_OK, are you near her right now? I need to get more info about what happened to her specifically." I was in emergency mode. And Rose's muffled groans were getting louder._

"_I'm right next to her"_

"_Can you put the phone on speaker?" _

"_Gimme a second" There was some rustling around and then a click. _

"_OK, you're on."_

"_Rose, Honey. Can you tell me if it what's hurting?"_

"_Knee" she cried out._

"_Alright baby, I need you to keep breathing. I know this hurts baby. Are you in shorts, Can you tell if it's swelling already?"_

"_Yes" from both Rose and Emmett. _

_"How long ago did it happen?"_

_"About 10 minutes, It took me a couple minutes to figure out where her bag was to call you. She didn't want us to call the hospital without calling you first."_

_"Rose, You need to let them call the hospital, I'm going to keep asking you questions though. Emmett, please call the hospital and tell them it's not life-threatening, but you're in need of transportation."_

_"We're around the corner from the hospital, they won't send ambulances to us because of the proximity unless it's life-threatening."_

_"OK, we can't lie, so I'm going to need your help Emmett. Rose, honey, is the pain in the back, inside or outside?"_

_She strangled out a ragged, "It's everywhere"_

_"I know baby, where does it hurt the most Rose?"_

_"Um... the inside I think."_

_"OK baby, good. Just try to relax. Keep breathing. I'm coming but I'm gonna need to catch a flight, I'll be there in about 12 hours." I'd already pulled up Kayak and was booking a flight. It looked like I'd have to pack while on the phone and go ahead and get in the truck pretty much now, but I'd be on the red-eye and be there in the morning. My next issue was leaving Mom with Dad. I'd never done it for longer than an afternoon, but I could always have Esme stop in and Esme's husband Dr. Cullen was close if they needed him. "Have you called Alice?"_

_"No, she's working" There was deep slow breathing coming from Rose. I knew that sound. It was Rose trying to see through the pain. I'd only ever heard that sound one other time and that was not a night we ever wanted to relive again. _

_"Honey, she can get there faster than I can."_

_"But we're so close." I knew what she meant. Nursing jobs in Boston were hard to come by. Alice had just started interviewing at one of the hospitals and things were looking promising. They tended to look at your attendance history at your current place of employment quite closely and Rose didn't want to do anything to put that job at risk for Alice. She already knew this injury was going to be a setback for her chances. She was taking one for the team. My job wasn't at risk. We all knew that. I had plenty of sick and vacation time and I'd been on full-time staff now for a little over a year. _

_"OK. Rose. We need to get ice on that knee and wrap it up so that we can get you over to the hospital. Emmett?"_

_"Yeah?"_

_"Have you guys already called the hospital?"_

_"Not yet."_

_"Emmett, do you have a wheelchair there?"_

_"No"_

_"OK, can you guys have someone call and let them know that you're going to bring over Rosalie Hale, age 22, possible MCL tear and unknown other injuries. I'm going to need you or someone else, to get ice and wrap her knee before taking her over. But following my instructions TO THE 'T'. Understand?"_

_"Yeah"_

_"OK, first, I need you to take me off speakerphone and hand Rose the phone." There was some rustling around and I heard the tell-tale click._

_"Hi" came her raspy voice._

_"Hey honey, I love you. Now just listen. Before I have anybody do anything I need to know if you want Emmett to help you or if you want him to get a female employee." I could hear her taking in a big breath and then slowly let it out. _

_"It's OK" she said._

_"You sure?"_

_"Yeah"_

_"OK, tell Emmett to put it back on speaker."_

_"...back on speaker." not as much rustling this time, he'd obviously figured out her phone. And click. _

_"Hey Bella, I'm here. What do you want me to do?"_

_"K, You're gonna need enough ice to put around her whole knee and enough elastic bandage to go from middle of her calf to middle of her thigh." He spoke quickly to another person standing near him. "Now this part is pretty important. When you start wrapping her leg, you need to do it slowly and this is going to sound a little odd, but you're the only one that can do it." There was silence for a few seconds and he asked, "should I have other people leave?"_

_"As many as you can, you're probably going to need an extra set of hands though." More silence then came Emmett's voice, obviously not directed at me. He seemed to have pulled the phone away so his voice was almost muffled._

_"Angie! Come here!" I could hear the familiar sounds of a seasoned athlete springing across a gym floor almost silently. "Hey Ang, can you get me one of the foam wedges from the store room and then help Mark clear those bags away from that wall over there. Once that area's clear I'm gonna want your help holding her leg while I carry her over there so I can wrap her leg before we head over to the hospital. Can you handle the gym for the rest of the day?"_

_"Sure Em, your shift just ended a few minutes ago, I'll clock you out when we're done here. I'll get the wedge. Hey Mark, start clearing those bags over there, I'll be there in a min." Tears were prickling in my eyes. Emmett might not have understood the whole story, but he understood enough to not ask and just do. I knew Rose would be starting to panic so I tried to soothe her. _

_"Alright Rose. In just a minute, Em and Angie are going to move you over to that wall. They're going to prop your leg up against a big foam piece so it's not floppin' around, OK baby? I know it hurts, I know, but they're going to try very very hard to make sure it's as quick and painless as possible. OK. Then, Em is going to put ice around your leg and wrap you pretty snug in the bandages. Remember from school? It's actually OK if it's a bit tighter than what you'd do for a sprain right? Cause we're going around the corner and we don't want to hurt you worse getting there." I was saying part of this for Emmett's benefit; I could only hope that he was listening. I could hear those light footsteps again and Angie spoke up. _

_"Hey, I'm Angela. You're Rose right?" Silence. "Can you help me put your leg up against this piece of foam here? Yeah just like that. Alright. Now you and I are going to hold your leg here and Em's gonna count to 3 and He's gonna pick you up. We're gonna walk over and sit you down so your back is up against the wall." Silence again._

_"Bella, fyi, she's nodding. She's doing good. She's breathing a lot, but trying to stay on top of everything. haha, she just gave you a thumbs up." Came Emmett's voice. This was a good thing. She's not panicking and trying to keep a sense of humor. This wasn't all bad._

_"1...2...3. Up" I could hear the shuffling and Rose crying and grunting. She was trying so hard to keep it all in. I couldn't help the tears streaming down my cheeks just listening from my end of the phone. Three thousand freaking miles away and I can't help my damn best friend. What kind of a sick world is this???_

_"Alright Rosie" Huh, that was either going to get his balls ripped off or she wasn't going to be too out of it to remember. "We're going down now. I want you to scoot back for me and keep your leg up against the wedge there. Angie, can you get the Ice and wraps from Mark?" _

_"Sure thing, be right back Rose. Just keep breaking for me."_

_"Alright Bella, the swelling hasn't stopped. Mark said the hospital knows she's coming and that it's a pretty light day so far so they're going to try and run scans on her right away. Thanks Ang. Alright Rose. K, here we go. This is going to be pretty snug. Let me know if it's too tight. Let's get that ice on there first. Ang, you hold her calf, Rose, you grab onto your thigh. On the count of 3." _

_OK, I had to give him a little credit here. Granted I wasn't an orthopedic nurse but between sports, handing out with the trainers and having a couple of the Forks athletes come through our doors, I knew about various knee injuries and what positions were going to cause more or less pain. Who was this guy and how did he know that a possible, if not probable, MCL tear was going to make separation of the upper and lower halves of the legs excruciating? He wasn't your average gym-bound muscle-head. "I'm starting the bandage around the calf, and I'm working my way up. K, now I'm working my way around the ice. We've got the thick bandage so gimme a min, but this'll work. Halfway up. How ya doing Rosie, you hangin' in there?" Silence again. "She nodded her head Bella. I'm just above the knee now. It's pretty tight; her leg's getting really red from lack of blood-flow, are you sure about this Bella?"_

_"Emmett, you don't have a wheelchair and they aren't going to come and get her. Do you really want to carry her over there with her screaming and her knee flopping all over the place?"_

_"No" He said quietly._

_"Alright then, this won't be on for very long. When you get there, you can tell them you know it's too tight. It'll probably get them to see her a little faster, If you need to, you can loosen it up once you get her in a wheelchair at the hospital, got it?"_

_"Yeah, K, it's done" He sighed. _

_"You did good Emmett. Now you need to grab her bag and take her over."_

_"OK, I'm going to go grab my backpack. Rosie, Stay here on the phone with Bella, I'll be right back OK. Ang will be right here."_

_"Hey Rose. How's your phone battery?"_

_"It's got 2 of the 5 bars lit up." Answered the voice I'd come to know as Angela. _

_"Rose honey, I know you don't want to call Alice yet, but you need to call her when her shift gets out. I've got a ticket on the Red Eye and I'll be there first thing in the morning, but they're not going to keep you that long so Alice'll need to get you back to your place."_

_"She just started her 24 shift."_

_"I'll get her home after." Emmett said. I didn't even her him come up. I wasn't so sure how Rose would deal with that._

_"Emmett, I don't kn-"_

_"Bells, it's ok." Rose croaked._

_"Emmett, do you have your phone handy?"_

_"Yeah why?"_

_"Enter this number. 617-555-2883. That's my cell, I never changed the number when I left after school so it's local if you or the hospital needs to call. I'm her emergency contact for everything, remember that! Rose's phone doesn't have a ton of juice left. It might last it might not, and if anything happens, and I do mean ANYTHING I need you to call me and text me with general updates so I'll get them when the plane lands. Angela, are you still there?"_

_"Yeah I'm here."_

_"Can I trust this guy with my sister?" Somebody snorted, I have no clue who._

_"Yeah Bella, you can. But I'll give him a swift kick to the junk if I hear otherwise."_

_"Oh trust me, I've been taught the art of castration by many. If there's a need, there won't be any junk left to kick." And then somebody gasped. And Rose piped up, "It's alright you big oaf, I'll protect you." Well this was new. I couldn't wait to meet this Emmett character." BEEP _

_"Hang on guys, I've got another call."_

_"Bella, it's me calling you. I wanted to make sure you could get ahold of me when you got here." Smart man. I might like him after all. _

_"OK, I'll save it. I'll call when I get on the plane and again when we land. Text me with anything big and Rose, follow Dr's orders! I'm gonna go make arrangements for Renee and get on the road. I'll see you as in the morning. I love you."_

_"Love you too."_

_"Emmett, Take care of her"_

_"Roger that"_

_I made all my calls, jumped in my car, hopped on the plane, arrived in Boston, took the T to Rose's apartment and a giant opened the door before I got a chance to put my key in the lock. He was about 6'3", two of me across and built asked if I was Bella and told me he was Emmett. No wonder he hadn't balked at the idea of carrying Rose across the street. His eyes looked tired and sad but he grabbed my bag from me and told me she'd been sleeping all night. The drugs they'd given her were pretty good stuff according to his friend in med school and she hadn't moved. He'd been changing the ice on her leg per Dr's orders. It was elevated and in an immobilizer. _

_The text messages had told me there was no break but the tissue damage was unknown at this point due to the amount of swelling. I pretty much knew that but she still needed the drugs and immobilizer, not to mention referral for ortho and MRI. All of which Emmett had helped her get scheduled last night. He had all the aftercare instructions and upcoming appointments laid out on her kitchen counter for the two of us to look at later. She was tucked in pretty well in the bedroom still in her volleyball gear from yesterday. Em said he didn't want to make anything uncomfortable. VERY good move. So I helped her change, total dead weight of course, and then went into the kitchen to make pancakes and find out Em's side of the story. _

_He said the kid who rolled the ball felt horrible. He'd cried and cried thinking he'd killed her. Angela had calmed him down but he was still a wreck. Once they'd gotten her to the hospital, they had taken her back almost immediately. A nurse took her to get a urine sample and they ran in pretty quick coming back in the room leading with 'congratuations, you're NOT pregnant, here are some pain meds', we both laughed at that. Horrible way to start off an ER run. He said once the drugs were in her, they took her to X-RAY but wouldn't let him go. When they brought her back the drugs were really taking effect so she was almost out. They put her in the immobilizer, sized her for crutches, gave him instructions for ice and meds for the next 1-2 weeks and made an appointment for a follow-up with an MRI and ortho. He said he'd already called his med school friend and asked about the ortho she was sheduled with and I'd decided I'd call Carlisle and do the same. After all, why should I trust a guy in Med school over a Dr. I trust with my mother's life. He might work on the other side of the country but he'd gone to school in New England so he might know some people still. He might be able to ask around. _

_What Emmett said next was something I neither expected or was prepared for. He told me he had a pretty strong feeling that Rose had at least one pretty bad experience with men in the past and wanted to know if I could tell him anything about it. I was silent for a couple reasons. Firstly, most people couldn't tell anymore, this guy was reasonably observant despite any muscle-bound stereotypes. Secondly, we'd never told anyone the story that wasn't directly involved or didn't have to know for her personal safety and NO ONE had ever questioned us on it. Rose was adamant she didn't want anyone to look at her differently. She went to therapy. She had a mostly healthy attitude about the whole thing. The only remaining issue was really a general mistrust of men. It was a fairly significant mistrust but she was working on it. I took a minute to collect myself from the jar of being asked before tell him that her experiences have not been daisies and sunshine but that it was her story to tell. I also thanked him to dealing with yesterday's situation the way he did and that it could have turned out much differently. _

_Rose had a long recovery, but she made it. And Em was there much of the way. _

"So basically, you're telling me we might have some stiff competition, big deal. We've probably had worse." Alice's eyes lit up and Rose was grinning.

"So you in?"

"You know as well as I do that if I knew the two of you were off playing on some god damn court somewhere, I'd be chewing my fingers off trying to keep myself in my chair instead of running out on the court. You're damn straight I'm in." Now all four of the faces looking at me were grinning back at me just as big as could be.

"YIPEEEEEEEEEEE"

::DING DONG::

"They're here. They're here" Alice ran to the door for the UPS guy. 'Muzuno' written across every suface. I knew they made shoes, kneepads and balls. As far as I knew, none of wore any of the above. What the Hell?!? Alice ripped open the box with a fury that would rival the Tasmanian Devil.

"Rose here you go, Bells here you go" Shorts and 2 double-packs of specialty knee-socks were thrown at me. "Jasper here, oh, here's mine, and Em, here's yours. I've give everybody else theirs tomorrow. Excellent. I'm so glad these came today. Now we're only missing the shirts but they should be there by Tuesday so we'll have them for Thursday's game."

"Whoa, slow down there pixie."

"Come one Bells, you know I can't. This is my element."

"Oh, I know hun, I know. OK guys so fill me in. Which rules does this league use? Old school or new school?"

"New" Was heard around the room.

"Game to…?"

"25 unless it's game 5, then it's 15" Emmett said.

"Win by 2?"

"Most definitely" Jasper drawled out.

"Complete with Let-Serve and liberos?" Nods "Best 2 of 3?" Rose jumped in on this one. "It's Best 3 out of 5 for all regular season and tournament games."

"What time's the game tomorrow?"

"11, we roll outta here at 10:15 to get a good warm-up stop." barked Em. And Jasper laughed.

"Alright boys and girls, If i'm supposed to be standing on my own two feet tomorrow instead of falling flat on my face i'm gonna go hit the hay. Make sure i'm up by 9 if you want. 8 if you want pancakes Em."

"Excellent!!! Come one Bells, Let's get these bags upstairs."


	4. Season Opener

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. Note: I'm not an MD but work in medical field so hospital scenes are fictional but as close as I can make myself.**

**Chapter 4 - Season Opener**

**EPOV, 5:30 am Sunday**

Oh My God, everything was shaking. Was this an earthquake? I'd heard of a really deep fault line in Massachusetts, the 100-year fault line or something like that, but I never thought about it seriously. I always thought we'd all just die if it ever hit. We weren't coded for that at all.

"Edward!" Huh??? "Edward!"

"Huh, What?" I tried to open my eyes "Doorway, we have to get to the doorway, the whole building's going to collapse. Oh shit, there are too many patients"

"What??? Edward, WAKE THE HELL UP!!! What are you rambling about doorways for?" It was Felix, one of my fellow residents.

"I'm up!!! Geez, Felix. What the fuck?" I punched him in the arm as far as my two hour of sleep ass could muster.

"Mrs. Curtis is starting to progress, they're going in to check her in a few minutes. Dr. Bannon was going to decide if they're good to go or if a C-section was necessary. I thought you'd wanna be up for this."

"Thanks man, did Bannon say how long till he was going over?"

"I think about 5 min, why?"

"I don't think I"m gonna make the game, I need to call Em."

"Dude it's 5:30 in the morning."

"And that's never stopped Em and Rose before, trust me" I pulled out my phone and hit the speed-dial for one of my oldest friends. I figured I had the timing just about right and I'd be getting he or Rose right about at wake-up time. ::RING RING::

"What the hell Eddie, you should know better than to call at this time of the day. I was just about t-"

"Em, I do NOT want to know what was coming next in that sentence. All I want to do is to let you know what I probably won't make the game today. My twins from yesterday are having a rough time of things and we're getting ready to go in and decide if we need to do an emergency C-section or if they've progressed far enough to continue with a natural delivery. Either way, I've gotten 2 hrs of sleep and i'll be useless."

"No problem man. Bells is here now so we've got 7 since Mike's outta town. Go birth some babies dude. Come over after if you're still standing. I'm gonna grill some chicken wings to kick off the season." Felix ran into the doorway and waved at me to hurry up.

"HA, thanks man, Gotta run."

"Hi Dr. Bannon, Mrs. Curtis, How are you doing?"

"How the fuck do you think I'm doing Dr. Masen? I've got two cannon balls trying to explode out of my vagina with their own homemade gun powder. Shit, I've got my own little pyrotechnic ions and I can guarantee you they haven't passed high school chemistry yet buddy." I had to smirk at that idea. But alas, no gun powder around here. Nope, not at all.

"Well Mrs. Curtis, I promise when they to high school chemistry send em to me and I'll teach them something even better. I'll have them making the best tiramisu, cheesecake, flan and mousse on the East Coast. They'll never have to worry about them impressing their future girlfriends and wives again." A single tear rolled down her cheek and she sniffled and started to speak.

"Oh Dr. Mas-" Then her eyes went glassy and rolled back into her head. The monitors started beeping and I looked over to Dr. Bannon as I pulled out my stethoscope to check for sounds of breathing. Erratic, slowing.

"Fetal distress, we need to do an emergency C-section. We don't have time to wheel her upstairs." Nurses started flying in. We lowered Mr. Curtis down. Bannon started barking order and looked me straight in the eyes. "Are you ready for this?"

"You tell me where you want me and tell me when to go." I said. Was I sure I was ready for this, No. Was I sure I could be an extra set of eyes, and hands ready to help wherever needed. Hells yes! I had no idea why the mom or the twins were in distress, but I knew we had to get the boys out. There was no question about that. They had been fine at our earlier exam. Chances were still very high that if we got them out quickly there would be no long-lasting effects from whatever was going on right now. Mom on the other hand, well, maybe Bannon knew, but I wasn't sure why she sudden coded or went into distress. It could have been a number of things, but my time in maternity were limited. Was this an excellent learning experience? Sure. But my first priority was to help make sure no harm was done to anyone if at all humanly possible.

Bannon turned to me and asked me if I'd ever done a C-Section? "Um, No Sir"

"OK, Here's your first one and here's why." He said as he rolled the surgical try toward me. A nurse walked around the bed toward me quickly to give me gloves. "We've got 3 lives here. 2 have yet to live and 1 has lived a long life, but she's got a husband and a very large family out there. I have a pretty good idea of what's going on in here and can walk you through what to do up there and get those two kids out. Megan here's gonna call down Dr. Robbins and she'll assist as soon as she can, but you need the hands on. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be, Sir"

"Cut the formalities and don't try to suck up to me till we're totally done here, got it?"

"Yeah"

"K, Take the Iodine and rub the plane from hip to hip, belly button down. Get everything. Now take the scalpel." He proceeded to walk me through step by step until I could see the first twin through my incision. We pulled him out, suctioned nose and mouth and cut the cord, and handed him off to one of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses to begin assessing APGARS. I turned my attention to Twin B and noticed a large amount of blood. I paused. Somewhere throughout this mess the anesthesiologist had come in and properly anesthetized Mrs. Curtis. A small piece of mind on my part.

"Edward, get Twin B, then come back to help me if, and only if, everything's OK." I snapped out of it. I went through the same procedure with the second twin. We got him into the second nurses' hands and walking out of the door. I took a deep breath. Both twins took a breath. Both initial APGARS were fairly good. Twin A had a 7 and Twin B had a 6, so normal and just below normal. With twins it's always a possibility and with this traumatic event occurring as we speak it's definitely factoring in. I turned around to Bannon.

"Both twins are on their way up to the NICU, can I do anything to help you?" I was swapping out my gloves and Bannon has just called for another two units of blood.

"Alright Masen, here's the deal. There was a uterine tear during a contraction. Not a complete tear but as tired and as much stress as Mrs. Curtis has been in she passed out and the twins went into distress. I'm assuming you saw evidence of the tear after you had the first twin out, right?" He just stared at me. I nodded. "OK. I've got everything closed up from this side. We're going to try to patch the tear from the incision you made and we'll start to make assessments from there." He came around opposite me and we started to work. First calling for suction clearing the field of vision, and working tediously to patch back together back everything we could see and give this woman back every chance she ever had. Units of blood were being brought in and at least her color seemed to be returning a bit. Heartbeat was slow but steady. We were making headway. I had no idea how long we had been here and I didn't dare look up for the clock. We just kept our heads down and kept stitching. We just kept looking for fissure lines that we had not yet worked on or blood loss from another unknown source. I felt like we were just thirsty men walking in a desert looking for the lost oasis. But then we both backed away. There was no more blood, no new-found tear marks. Everything looking like it should for a uterus we'd just pulled two screaming little boys from. I didn't dare say anything. I just kept looking. Please God, don't let us miss anything.

"Masen, Do you see any blood in the field of vision?"

"No Sir"

"Any fissure-lines at all?"

"None that we haven't addressed, Sir"

"Megan, how long have we been in here?"

"It's been five hours Dr. Bannon. It's 10:45 in the morning." Holy cow, seriously?

"Megan, Can you page Dr. Robbins down here immediately. We need a fresh set of eyes before we suture Mrs. Curtis closed."

"Yes, Sir" And we stood, looking, searching for a missing piece, trying to make sure we gave this family back the opportunity for just that, a family. We knew that the boys upstairs were their firsts and we knew they'd wanted many more. After a few minutes Dr. Robbins came bursting in the doors and snuck in next to me on the table.

"Masen, can you shine the overhead to the right?" I did just that and tried to look over her shoulder. "And to the left" And we did the same routine, Dr. Bannon following suit. "Gentleman, I don't see anything. Close her up please. We won't know for a while, but she's got a good chance. Good job guys." I slowly let out the small breath I'd been holding in. She was gonna be OK. We started stitching her up. Still in that L&D room turn operating room. Slowly and methodically, trying to make sure we could leave Mrs. Curtis with the least amount of pain necessary. I lost count of how many stitches and staples later but we were done and they took her into a recovery room. I went to the sinks to scrub up some. Bannon walked up next to me.

"You did alright in there Masen. There's going to be a lot of births that will be whole lot easier than that, and there will be some that will be harder. That was a tough one to start your Maternity rotation with. I'm almost glad it was you though. You're not gonna be up here with the 'right' equipment. You're gonna be down in the pit. If that ever happens to you down the road, you may make it up here, you may not. You're going to need to be able to jump in and be right in there next to the OB/GYN and have been there since the beginning. You didn't freak out. You paused once. For a second. I did too only you didn't see it because you weren't watching me, but I was watching you and doing what I was doing. You did good. Clean up. We'll go talk to Mr. Curtis then we'll head to the conference room to talk about everything that happened. I finished scrubbing my arms down making sure they were clean of any traces of blood and decided to put on a fresh pair of scrubs. I hadn't been wearing anything over my scrubs when delivering the twins so I was pretty gross. I stepped out of the locker room into the staff lounge and Bannon was waiting for me. He held his arm out toward the door and I walked out holding it for him as I went through. As we walked down the hall toward the waiting room Bannon informed me that one of the head nurses had informed Mr. Curtis that there had been a complication when he arrived back to the hospital from picking his in-laws up from the airport. They had apparently taken the red-eye in from somewhere in California and I'm sure everyone was quite surprised to be headed off as they tried to walk back to her room. Bannon asked if I'd like to speak to him and fill him in on what had happened. I nodded. We walked into the waiting room, which was almost empty save a very tired looking man, with his head buried in his hands, who looked to be in his early 30's and two couples in their late 50's to mid 60's. I walked over and spoke up.

"Mr. Curtis?" He jolted up looking around until his eyes came to rest on Bannon and myself. He stood up and slowly moved to us and nodded.

"Mr. Curtis, my name is Dr. Masen and this is Dr. Bannon. We were both with your wife this morning after you had left." The tears were welling up in his eyes. Cut to the chase Edward!

"How is she?"

"She's in Recovery right now. She will be for the next hour or so, I'll have one of the nurses take you to her when they bring her up to her room. Was anyone able to come out and update you at any point throughout the morning?" He nodded.

"I know you must be very worried, a lot has gone on so I will try and fill in all the blanks for you. Shortly after you left your wife's uterus began to tear. It was not a complete tear. We delivered both twins, both boys by Cesarean immediately and began to repair the tearing. She was unconscious at first and then under sedation during the entire procedure. It has been a long evening and now morning for her. The recovery process will be a bit longer than a typical C-section unfortunately. We can discuss that further with both of you when she's woken up a bit. Do you have any questions at the moment?"

"Will we be able to have any more children?" He asked nervously.

"I can't say for sure right now, but that option is not off the table. We will have to wait and see how she heals and if you two do try for more children you will be monitored closely. We will take this one step at a time though. Right now, you have two beautiful baby boys up in the NICU waiting for Mom and Dad, and you have a wife in recovery who's going to need all of you when she wakes up. She's not going to be able to do a whole lot on her own for quite some time." Mr. Curtis nodded as did the 4 parental figures behind them. One of which stood forward.

"When can we see our grandbabies?"

"I'll send a nurse down to get all of you shortly Ma'am"

"Thank you Son" I smiled and nodded.

Bannon and I turned and walked back down the hall past the staff lounge. We stopped at the nurses station to ask them to send someone down to take the family up and show them procedure on the NICU and then the two of us headed down into one of the conference rooms. We both sat down and I rubbed my face with my hands. My stomach started growling.

"Here" I took my hands down and looked up. Bannon had put a muffin in front of me and was pouring juice for both of us. "They always leave leftovers from the weekly Sunday morning board meetings." Good to know.

"Alright Masen, let's talk. First of all how do you think you did today?" I hadn't thought about that one yet. I'm sure there were things I couldn't have done differently. I'm sure there were things I didn't know. But for what I did know. I did everything I knew how to do. So I said just that.

"Well Sir. I know I'm quite new to Maternity and obstetrics, but I feel like once things headed South, I was able to work within the parameters of my skill level safely without causing harm."

"OK, though what you said might be true, that's not what I asked you Masen. How do you think you did Masen?" I took a deep breath.

"Sir, I really don't want to sound like an arrogant prick right now, but considering I know shit about popping out babies, I feel pretty good. Scared shitless, but pretty good." Bannon stayed silent, drank some juice, urging me to do the same. The juice felt good. Duh, I hadn't eaten or had anything to drink since yesterday. Idiot. I down the juice. "Sir, can I ask what the hell happened in there?"

"You certainly may. As we discussed briefly before. There was a partial tear in the uterus. If it had been a full tear it would have been much more serious, we very well may have lost the mother and one if not both of the boys." I so desperately wanted to ask how he knew at the time it had only been a partial. I'd been inside the incision site. He'd had the wrong angle to 'see' anything really. Bannoned eyed me. "Go ahead and ask your question."

"Sir, How did you know? I mean, how did you know it wasn't a full tear? You couldn't 'see' the tear. Could you feel it? Does it do something different? Did she present differently?"

"Whoa Masen, slow down. No, I couldn't 'see' it. I've seen a full tear before and it was awful. But there was also a TON of blood. It gushed. Yes Mrs. Curtis bled, but it wasn't gushing out in waves. That was my first tip off that it wasn't a full tear. I thought tear though because of the quick loss of consciousness and fetal distress without being close to being ready to push. She was only about 6 centimeters dilated. Are you seeing the puzzle pieces?" I was. Labor had not progressed, so the cords would not have wrapped on their own, the signs were not there for a full uterus tear because that sound horrific, but small versions of each of those signs were there. The boys started calling for help, Mom passed out from blood-loss and stress and there was some blood-loss visibly. I nodded to acknowledge Bannon's question.

"Now, while you were delivering the boys, I repaired what I could from where I was. There was some tearing around the cervix, but most of it would be best accessed from your incision. I wanted to make sure we made the best of our time. If I'd switched our positions, you wouldn't have known what you were trying to find since I wouldn't have had the chance to explain it yet." He drew me a picture of where he had seen the blood and where he had felt and then where he had felt the tearing. "Does that make sense now?" I nodded. It did, it totally and completely did. But he was right. If he had tried to explain that to me at the time, I don't think there would have been words to describe this location. I sighed again. This was probably the 6th or 7th time today.

"Masen, fact of the matter is today you took lead and delivered two beautify baby boys and saved their mother. Did you know you took lead? No. Did you have direction? Yes. Did you take direction? Yes. Did you take direction well? Yes. Masen… You did good. We not only kept 3 people alive today who could have been dead, but we also very possibly kept Mrs. Curtis' uterus in and functional. Granted only time will tell on that one but this had been one of those cases that hadn't made it to the hospital in time or had opted for an at home delivery. There's a good chance we'd be scheduling 3 autopsy's right now. OK?" I nodded silently.

"Now another thing" I looked up right into Bannons slate eyes, "Don't let this go to your head. You did well today, but you're still the resident. You're still learning. You're still on my service. You still know jack. Got it?" I half smirked, "Yes Sir."

"Alright. It's after 1. I'll check on Mrs. Carter and make sure the family got up to see the boys. You head home. I've got another high risk mommy coming in this week that Sinclair gets. You're splitting between my services in Ortho right?" I nodded. "And tomorrow's off?" Again, I nodded. "OK, rest up, it was a rough one. Take what ortho can give you and I'll let you know when we've got something again for you."

I headed to the locker room. Showered and changed. I didn't feel much of anything but the steam for a while still I turned and needles shot at my chest. Shit, that was hot and I was beyond tired. I knew it was early afternoon but I needed sleep. If I went to sleep my schedule would be even more screwed up than it already was. So I got dressed.

I opted to head down to the coffee cart and drive over to Em and Rose's. I figured some wings and entertainment wouldn't hurt a guy, right? Em and Jazz were always good for some fun times. Plus Rose and Alice's best friend from college, Bella, got in yesterday and I still haven't met her. She was supposed to be pretty cool. Calm, cool and collected under pressure, though somehow impossibly klutzy. I think the girls said she was working at the hospital so maybe I'd see her around a lot. I had barely heard anything at all about her until about two weeks ago. Apparently even Em and Jazz had both met her before this weekend and I hadn't heard more than 10 words strung together about her at once ever and that was only maybe once a year. I just don't understand why she was such a secret. Either way, I figured since she was back in everyone's lives I should get to know her since we were sure to spend a lot of time together for the foreseeable future.

Since the weather was pretty decent everybody seemed to be out and about. It took me a lot longer to get a parking spot than normal. I forget people come out of the woodwork when the weather turns. I might have to start taking the T again. We'll see about that. I like my car too much. Or rather, I like the freedom too much. I found a spot a couple blocks away and headed towards the house sipping at the end of my coffee as I went. Em's Jeep was in the driveway as was Alice's Porche so the game was definitely done. I could hear Em laughing around back and see the smoke from the grill so I didn't bother going up to the front door. I unhooked the latch on the gate at the side of the house and went around to the deck.

"Hey guys, how was the game?"

"Edward, grab a beer. It was one of the best season openers we've had in a long time." I reached for a beer from the cooler and leaned against the railing of the deck. Jasper was sitting on a deck chair snacking on what looking to be Alice's Seven-Layer Bean Dip and Em was manning the grill per usual. "We kicked the other team's tushes from here to Timbuktu. Actually, it was more the girls that did the ass-kicking. We were more the supporting characters but it worked out really well anyway. They never told us how well they worked together. You so shoulda been there. Eddie my man. My girl looks hot hitting the shit outta that ball." All I could do is laugh.

"Seriously Em, if I looked at Rose the way you did, you'd squish me into a teenie tiny little box and bury me next to the birdfeeder out back. Think about what you're saying for a minute will ya."

"Good point, you're not allowed to look at Rose like that. But you still shoulda been there. The three of them were really good." I rolled my eyes and looked over at Jazz.

"He's right buddy. Those ladies were mighty sexy doing their thang. It's looking like it's shaping up to be quite the year. James might just get his ass handed to him on a silver platter after all." I liked the sound of that.

"So what are the girls up to?" The house was awfully quiet but who knows with those guys.

"It's Alice's turn in the shower, Rose is making margaritas and Bella is actually out with her realtor."

"Ahh, so I guess I don't get to meet the infamous Bella-boo today after all huh?" I laughed at Emmett.

"Hey, don't make fun of my Boo-bear. She's my home-girl. You mess with her and you mess with me _buddy_." He said that last work quite emphatically as he poked me in the chest with a tong wielding hand. I threw my hands up in the air in surrender.

"Hey man, no messing intended. Just making comment on your nickname for our new friend around here and the fact that I wasn't going to get to meet her after all. I'm a bit surprised you still call her that after all this time?"

"Yeah Em, how did you start calling our dear general 'Bella-Boo'?" Jazz asked. Hmm. 'General' that was a new one too, I'd have to ask about that one later too. Where to these guys come up with these things. I'm missing out on a lot. Maybe I should quit my job and follow them around. Or send a tape-recorder around to see what I miss. OK, bad idea, I know I'm sleep deprived now. I do not want a recording of Em and Rose going at it like monkeys. ::sigh::

"Really, it's not that big a deal. It was from that first weekend I met Rose. Remember that Edward?" I nodded. He retold the story to Jazz as I remembered it. Bella had been part of everybody's life for a while. I really don't get why they didn't talk about her more.

_I was in my first year of residency, just a general residency at that point. I was walking around following around my Senior Resident when my phone vibrated repeatedly. I snuck a moment to look down at it and it was Emmett. Four calls in a row. He usually didn't do that. I excused myself to the restroom and called him back. Turns out he was in the ER with this girl from the Gym, but there was something in his voice. Em, my bigger than life best friend actually sounded scared. What the hell. He gave me the run down and it sounded pretty simple. It sounded like a knee injury. Probably a ligament from what he was describing, Whoever had given him that much information sounded like they knew a bit about what they were doing at least._

"_Em, who's this girl? Are you dating her?"_

"_No, I'm not. She's been coming to the gym for a long time, but I've never spent much time with her. I've only ever helped her set up the nets before. Her name is Rosalie. Hey, they took her back for X-Ray, but they said they probably weren't going to do much today. Something about swelling, but they were going to make her an appointment with an ortho and give her some drugs. Her sister is flying out here right now but won't be here till tomorrow morning so I'm going to take her home after she's done. Can I call you and give you the name of the ortho and the drugs so you give me info on stuff?" He was putting a whole lotta work into a girl he'd just talked to a few times at the gym. I'd have to pump him for more later. _

"_Yeah man, that's cool. My shift's done here in about four hours. I'll give you a call when I'm on my way home. I've gotta get back to my group before they think I fell in or something."_

"_Dude, you seriously told them you were going to the bathroom? That's fuckin funny." So not having this conversation right now._

"_Bye Em, I'll talk to you later." I put my phone away and headed back out to catch up with my group for the rest of rounds. _

_I called Em on my way home, as promised and just like he said, he had taken the Damsel in Distress, Rose, home after her ER visit. She was apparently passes out on her drugs in the other room so he filled me in. Apparently, they opted to send her home with some prescription strength ibuprofen for inflammation and codeine for pain. And apparently the combination of the two knocked her out cold. They gave it to her before she left the hospital and explained how to take them and also about keeping off of it and icing it from now until her follow-up visit and she passed out right about the time he got her to his car in the gym parking lot. Luckily they'd given her an immobilizer and crutches. He gave me the name of the Ortho she was scheduled to see in two weeks and I told him I'd give my dad a call and run the name by him. He'd kept in contact with a ton of his old friends from school so I knew he'd knew someone who'd know if he didn't know the guy himself. We had time to give her a heads up if she needed to reschedule. _

"_So Em, I've got a question for you."_

"_I know what you're going to ask."_

"_If you know, why don't you go ahead and just tell me."_

"_Eddie, you didn't see her. First of all, I've been trying to talk to her for months and you know me, usually it's not that hard. I can make small talk and ease into conversation without much trouble. But she was really closes off. Business only. The only things she'd talk to anyone about was her membership when necessary or one of the fitness staff to help get the nets set up or equipment out for the volleyball league. She wasn't stand-offish, just no-nonsense. I could never get a good read on her. And God is she gorgeous. Then today, some kid rolls the ball under the net right as she goes up for a hit and she lands right on it. Everything was slow-motion and I just couldn't get there fast enough. She didn't scream or cry. She just held it in the best she could. I couldn't tell if she was trying to be brave or what, but I just felt so bad. I just wanted to make the pain go away. _

_She had me call this girl name Bella, I found out later it was her sister, but she's out on the West coast right now. It seemed like it was just the two of them and a best friend or something here in town who's working. Anyway. Bella walked me through checking out her knee and wrapping it. She figured out it was the MCL before we got over to the hospital, which they're pretty sure it probably is. I guess the ortho will confirm in a couple weeks. Something that Bella said really got to me though. She told me that I needed to wrap slowly but that I was the only one that could do it and if I could make the crowd die down, I should. Eddie, it got me thinking."_

"_Em, you'd want to go slow with wrapping a joint injury like that , and who wants to be on display when they're in pain and surrounded by strangers?"_

"_No Edward, the other part. The part about me being the only one that could do it. Right before that she's had me take the phone off speaker and hand it to Rose. Look Edward, I could be wrong here, but I've got a feeling something bad happened to her. I don't think she trusts people or more specifically guys. When Mark was helping me get the ice and bandages she was jumpier but when I had Angie help moving her with the foam wedge she was much calmer. I really think something happened with a guy. I wanna talk to her about it later when she wakes up. Or maybe I'll wait and talk to her friend Bella when she gets here. I've got her cell phone number too if timing doesn't work so I can talk to her about it while we're here. I don't know if I'll be able to stay at Rose's for long since I'm virtually a stranger." He had a point. This was sounding more and more like the case studies I'd seen for battered women or women who'd been raped. _

"_Em, it's possible, don't get me wrong, but that's a big leap to make after just talking to this woman for an hour or so. Please be careful."_

"_Edward, gimme a minute. She's saying something. I'm gonna see what she needs. Don't go anywhere." I stayed on the phone just in case. It could have been something as quick as another blanket or as in depth as asking him who the hell he was and why he was in his apartment. I figured having him on the phone with me wasn't a bad idea. I heard her voice but she wasn't clear at all. He kept trying to ask her to repeat herself. Then he asked if she meant Bella. He told her that Bella was on the way. She asked him to wake her up when she got here and he told her he definitely would but to go back to sleep for now. There was a little bit more murmuring and then silence for a minute before Emmett spoke up again. _

"_Sorry man, I got nervous she needed something more serious. Apparently Bella is also known as Bella-Boo. And I'm under orders to wake Rose up when she gets here but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. What do you think doc? Should we let her sleep when Bella gets here or wake her up?"_

"_When did the sister say she'd be here?"_

"_In the morning, I think around 10 or 11."_

"_Rose'll probably be close to done sleeping and in need or more pain meds right?"_

"_Yeah, she'll be due for another dose. I'll be changing the ice throughout the night, but the meds'll need to be taken earlier than that actually." God, he was whipped already if he was gonna wake up throughout the night to change out the ice. _

"_Shit man, are you sure about this? This is a lot of work to go for someone you just started talking to today."_

"_Yeah, I'm sure Edward. I don't know what it is about her yet, but she's under my skin. I've gotta know more. I just can't leave her here to fend for herself. I've gotta make sure she's OK."_

"_Alright. I'll check with my dad about that Ortho and get back to you. Let me know if something comes up."_

"_Thanks man, have a good night"_

"_Good luck"_

That was the first time I heard Bella's nickname. The big lug just liked it I guess. Once he got over his extreme worry for our dear Rosalie that is. But like I said, I rarely hear about her. I dunno how often the rest of them talk about her. Every few months someone will say something here or there but nothing big. I knew she had gone to school with the girls. Even though Emmett had thought she was Rose's sister at first she really wasn't, they were just very close friends. Well, Rose, Alice an Bella had apparently been attached at the hip throughout college and had played volleyball together while all going through the nursing program. Right after graduation, and I mean like hours after, Bella took off across the country. Rose and Al were pretty upset from what I can gather, but it seemed like it was necessary. There seems to be a story there. Every time they talk about her, there's this look of momentary excitement then the sadness comes and lasts for a while. I'm pretty sure that's why everybody avoids the topic actually.

Then all of the sudden, two weeks ago, the girls get a call that Bella's moving back here. After five years on the West coast she's coming back. She's given her two weeks and she's got a week to get her crap together once she gets here before she starts her new job, which apparently is at the hospital that the girls and I all work at. Plus, they signed her up for our volleyball team. I'm really not sure how I feel about that one, but right now I'm freaking tired and hungry and just downed half a been having not eaten or slept in over 24 hours so I'm not going to comment on that little tidbit.

In short, there's a lot I don't know about this girl. She's got a lot of history with Rose and Al. She once made them very happy, but for five years now I've watched the memory of her make them both very sad which in turn has made Em and Jazz very sad. I'm trying very hard to reserve judgment until I meet her. Maybe she had a fantastic reason for leaving. Maybe she was killing off a branch of the Mob, maybe she taught underprivileged children in the middle of nowhere. Maybe she was in witness protection; maybe she was sick or had a mental illness. I really don't know. What I do know is that her leaving hurt a lot of people I care about. I hope that her coming back makes things better, but I can't tell yet.

"So how come Bella went out with her Realtor?" I thought they'd said everybody was going to be here for wings, I figured it would really be everybody.

"Her realtor called her while we were playing this morning and told her they had a couple new listings for townhouses and condos go on the market yesterday. He knew she wasn't working yet and that she wanted to get the ball rolling on things if possible so gave her a call. She called him back between games and they set it up so we dropped her off after the game. She's gonna ride the T back out when she's done. Hopefully she finds something pretty good. She knows this area pretty well though. She was gonna go check out the train rides to a couple more neighborhoods tomorrow if these didn't pan out."

"She not going to need to, She's going to find the perfect place today. Mark my words." Alice came skipping in with hands full of margarita glasses." Alice always has a way of just knowing things. I wasn't about to start questioning her accuracy now.

"Can we expect her back anytime soon?" I questioned

"Unfortunately not. It's going to be the last place they go, but she's going to fall in love. By the time she gets back, we'll all be ready to pass out and you mister," pointing a very bony finger into my arm, "will have already passed out and had someone drive you home." I chuckled out loud.

"Sounds about right my dear." Taking another swig. "So who wants to tell me more about this game?" Rose walks in with the pitcher of margaritas and another glass and starts us off.

"Well, after today's showing it was decided we're running a 5:1, Bella sets unless she's not there for some reason then we go back to Jasper like before." I looked over to Jasper and he nodded I was a bit nervous about this set-up. Jasper had been our setter for the last three years alongside James. I'd never had anybody but the two of them set me. It was bad enough the asshole fucker decided the girls weren't worthy but now my team wanted to take Jazz away from me. We had some pretty well rehearsed plays already and to see that that had changed in one game was a bit startling. But he seemed OK with it so I kept listening. "At the moment, we've got Jasper, Em and I as our 3 middle hitters, Alice as Libero and you, Angela, Ben and Mike as outside/right-side hitters. Don't worry, Jasper can always jump in as setter in a pinch."

"Edward, Bella's a much better setter than I am, give her a chance, please. Plus, I actually really like stuffing the ball in the other teams face. It was might rewardin'." I was in no way was ready for that one. I'm sure my jaw was on the floor and Emmett was snorting. I turned back to Rose.

"We'll rotate starting positions around depending on who's there and who ends up liking playing next to who and such. The biggest difference you're going to have to get used to is pulling the setter from the back-row. I know we've never done that in our league before and there've only been a couple teams you've seen do that there. Have you ever played that way before?" I shook my head. I'd typically run a 4:2, two setters playing opposite each other and whichever was in the front row, switched to the right hand side and ran it from there. This would be a little new for sure.

"OK, no problem. We'll walk you through the rotations before the next game, just try and get there a little early and I'll have the clipboard." We never had to physically run through it for me. I was good at visualization so the X's and O's on the 2D court drawing did a great job for me. I guess it was all that playing basketball when I was younger.

It sounded like we were strategizing for war over here. I wasn't sure if this was Jasper the history/war-buff's idea or Bella the newbie/infiltrator's, either way I'd try it out first before saying it was or wasn't going to work. It was an interesting theory nonetheless. I guess time would tell.

**AN: Feedback is welcome: the good, bad and ugly.**


	5. Keys

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. **

**Chapter 5 – Keys**

**BPOV**

I was anxious to get my hands on the smooth leather of a ball again after so long. I hadn't gotten to play much while I'd been back home. If you take out the games of beach volleyball we played at First Beach for the 4th of July BBQ-Bonfires or somebody's graduation, which were really more like backyard ball, I didn't play at all.

We had piled in Em's Jeep that morning, stopped off for some coffee and bagels and played some warm-up music on the way to the gym. Rose had apparently corrupted Em with the type of stuff we used to listen to. Not quite trance or club music but not your typical rock. Stuff you'd get lost with. We used to spend entire weekends scouring music collections of everyone we knew to find the perfect songs to add to our warm-up lists. First we'd play the music in the morning getting ready in our dorms or apartments on the ride to meet the team, then in the team vans. It got to be tradition. When we all had iPods we'd type up the list updates and email 'em out every week so people could update their lists. The trickiest part for me was that I had found out back in high school that to keep my head in the right place I needed to keep listening until right before the game. In high school it wasn't such a big deal to just wear my ipod and keep the cord under my shirt. In college there was apparently a stricter code about safety. Whether it was actually in the rulebooks or a stronger sense of the need to keep the players safe, we had a couple Refs tell me to take the buds out. I didn't play as well those games. Thus, my team hoodie became a much needed accessory. A couple other girls wore them too just to keep up the image of being cold, but really it was all so I could keep my head in the game.

Now the hoodie wasn't needed. I pulled out my ipod, tucked in my shuffle and hid the cord away. I walked over to the ball carrier and picked the best ball that I could find. There were always a couple that were over- or under-pumped or even plastic-y. I found the one I wanted. Threw it into the floor over and over to warm up my shoulders and found myself eyeing a piece of the wall that I'd be playing with for the next few minutes. I was home. I started slow and then just let the speed take me faster and faster. Closed my eyes and let the beats of the music take me somewhere else. I really was home. The smile on my face just grew and grew.

**JPOV**

Em and I had just finished throwing the ball back and forth and had started with our bumping and setting drill when I heard a tapping, or rather thumping from one of the walls. I didn't think much of it at first. A lot of people grab the balls and try to throw it rapidly into the ground or wall a few times or something but it didn't stop at a few seconds. It just kept going. I wanted to stop and look at what was going on but once Em and I started we always tried to beat our last record without shanking the ball. Our girls had both been playing this game much more seriously than either of us. I mean, I'd played as a junior and senior in high school once our guys team was finally formed and then I played on a rec team in college but the girls had both played all through high school and NCAA in college, DIII but still. Em had never played anything but pick-up games and gym games till he met Rose. You bet your ass we had something to prove.

All of the sudden the ball didn't come back to me. I looked at Em's face and everything was scruntched together in sure confusion and curiosity.

"Jazz, what the hell is she doing?"

"Who Em, what is who doing?"

"Bella-boo, she's over there thumping the ball against the wall. I've never seen anything like it." I waved him over towards our girls with me.

"Hey Rose, Alice, can we ask you something." They kept with their drill. Bump, set, spike, bump, set, spike. Over and over. "Um, well, we were wondering, um… what the shit is Bella doing?" Alice caught the ball Rose as lobbed it to her in a perfect set and they both looked over.

"She's just warming up. Was she doing something else a min ago?" Em and I looked at each other still very confused. "Um, no." Alice giggled.

"Jazzy, she's warming up her hands and arms. She's been a setter for a really long time. Setters are supposed to have soft hands. And quick hands. That's a warm up drill where she can warm up those parts while the rest of us can't do that for her. She's basically just setting against the wall. I think it's even called something like 'wall sets'" I was still just staring at Bella. I'd never seen so many sets so rapidly. I'd been trained to be both a setter and a hitter in high school. We always had 2 setters on the court at once, so you'd set from the back row and when you were in the front, hit to your heart's content. I loved both. There's the satisfaction from hitting the everloving crap out of the ball into the floor on the other side. There's also a great satisfaction from setting up a teammate or being part of the chain and maybe helped fix a bad shank from the initial dig into a great hit in the end as the setter. Either way, you couldn't go wrong.

The pounding against the wall stopped and Bella moved into an area that had a few marks on the floor. She seemed to be centering herself then set the ball straight up into the air. She would sometimes set straight up and sometimes bend and contort her body so she was seemingly facing differently but still setting the ball upwards. I looked at Alice again. "What now?"

"Silly, she's just warming up some of her trunk muscles while setting to a spot. Again, sometimes it's easier without a partner. See how sometimes she gives herself a short set and sometimes it's a long one or really high. It's all warm up. She'll be done in a couple minutes and then we can see about some group drills. We've got the whole court for a few minutes coming up in 5. I know you've always been on the court setting baby, but you and Bells should talk for a min before we start about sharing the time and running 5-1's alternating who's setting or running a 6-2 if you don't mind too much. I think she's a little rusty, but I know she'd love to get her hands dirty again. You guys can hash out who plays what for how long. You know none of us care. We'll see how everything goes today and how everybody feels and start deciding more permanent things later." I nodded, gave her a kiss on her forehead and we all went back to our warm-up.

After a few more minutes, the whistle blew and it was our turn for full court. Bella walked over, I nodded and she smiled.

"Hey, lil' Darlin'. Those were some crazy moves you did over there. I have a feeling that I'm outclassed in a major way to you sweet pea. How would you feel about running the show? At least for today? We can see how you like playin' with everybody and if everything goes well, maybe I get back to hitting things to relieve some tension." She nodded and gave me the cutest little impish grin.

"Alright Jazz, I'll take lead today on one condition. You play opposite me to pick up the slack. I might be in decent shape but that doesn't mean volleyball shape."

"You've got yourself a deal little lady."

So we played.

**BPOV**

I was quite surprised Jasper was willing to let me take over today. If someone had asked me to do that I wouldn't have been all that happy. Actually, it would have been pretty painful. This was one of my greatest joys and loves in life. I suppose on one hand it was sad that I had so few things that meant something to me that a game held such a large place in my heart. On another hand, this game had taught me many lessons. Focus, strength, teamwork, determination, and trust just to name a few. And these girls have been with me for so much of it.

We seamlessly transitioned into a traditional hitting drill. I'd taken one earphone out for this, allowing each hitter to call their hit. As if everyone knew, I was started off with easy calls. 32 (middle, medium height), 13 (outside high), 61 (outside, close and short), Then started getting trickier and trickier: 52 (middle hitter on right-side, just low enough to have time to get there), 11 (shoot-set outside, either hitter or setter can get the timing just fine, but together is usually the issue). They kept letting me know what they wanted and I kept sending them. Somewhere along the line my phone went off. I thought it was probably Charlie checking in so I figured I'd just call him back later. No use in breaking up the groove right? About 10 more balls then the whistle blew again for the other team. We grabbed some water and sat down to watch them warm up. I took mental notes as always. And time went by too quickly. The whistle blew and it was time to go. I look around for some instruction. I was the newbie here. Everybody just looked at each other. Rose, Alice, Jasper, Emmett, Angela, Ben and Mike were all looking around like nobody wanted to decide anything

"OK guys, so how do you guys normally do rotations? Do you have set positions? Do you rotate in? What's the deal?" I looked around waiting for the answer. Rose spoke up.

"We normally just rotate in and make sure that Alice and I aren't next to each other in rotation. Alice can't play front so we usually have her and Ben swap out for each other so he can play front row for her vertically challenged holiness."

"Hey, I resent that" she hip checked Rose.

"Haha, alright alright. How about this…" I outlined a possible plan for them close to what Rose, Al and I used to use. Since Jazz wanted me to set I was going to put the "general" qualities to work. I know not every team played it this way, but I'd played on teams that'd had a certain amount of control relented to the setter. It's hard for the coach to dictate how the play's going to run when the setter gets every 2nd ball. Plus, things change and you don't have time for pow-wows. You've gotta know you're teams strength and weaknesses and you've gotta scout the opposition. I'd done just that. I knew Rose and Al. No questions there. Then there was Jazz, he was more my wild card. He'd set but he had some hitting training. He could really be put anywhere. With his height, I wanted him middle if he could hack it. We'd work on the fancier stuff later. For now, straight up middle hit and blocks. I think he can do it. Em can go either outside or middle. His size would make you think he doesn't have the quickness of a middle but he'd surprise you. Plus, he's a natural prankster. He'd get a kick out of messing with people. But then again, we could use that later to pull off some interesting things. Angela was a lefty so she was a natural off-side/right-side hitter. A good choice for opposite me later on. And Mike was average height and size. He did well but nothing stood out really so far for a position so the natural choice was traditional outside hitter. I set up a rotation and we'd worry about the straggler later. They told me Edward wasn't here today but should hopefully be here Thursday. But today was the focus. Everyone liked the rotation. We set up with Ben and Alice swapping out and Mike rotating in for whoever wanted needed it for the first set.

::tweet:: Let the games begin.

The other team came out fierce and scrappy. But they got the ball over, and a couple of their guys could hit, I'll give them that. But we responded accordingly. The girls and I reverted back to some old hand signals which of course Em and Jazz picked up on cause we were calling them behind our asses so we found out just how quick the guys were checking out our backsides. The best part was that when Em made a big deal about it and started huffing and puffing that we were calling attention to their asses (you better believe I just laughed at that one, not one of them had a claim to my dear piece of tail), well let's just say Jazz had one of the interesting looks on his face. It was fairly obvious he'd been wondering how long it would take Em to notice. Sneaky string-bean. I wonder what other things he picked up on. I'd have to watch it around him. We killed em in the first set, and switched sides. I went to my bag to grab water and saw the flashing light of the message. I decided to listen to it and see what Charlie wanted.

"_Ms. Swan, this is Eleazar Denali. But please call me Eli. We've been emailing back and forth the last week or so about trying to find you a place. I know you said you've got this week off and wanted to get a jump on things. I've got a number of listings available for condos, townhomes and apartments. I've got a couple homes in your price range too with various set ups. Anyway, if you're available, give me a call and we can try to set something up for later today or this week to get things started. I believe you have my number but my cell is 617-555-1212. I hope to talk to you soon."_

We still had a minute or so before the next set was supposed to start so I dialed back.

"_Hello, this is Eli Denali, City Real Estate. How can I help you?"_

"Mr. Denali, this is Bella Swan. I just got your message, I'm sorry."

"_No worries Ms. Swan."_

"Please call me Bella."

"_Only if you call me Eli."_

"I think I can handle that. You mentioned in your message that you had some properties for me to take a look at. When did you want to meet to show me around?"

"_I do, I have time anytime today actually or we can set up something for later this week."_

"Today works well actually if you don't mind meeting early afternoon. I'm actually playing in a volleyball game at the moment. I'm thinking we should be done by about 1. Would that work for you? I can have my friends drop me off at your office."

"_That works perfectly. I'll get a list of properties together to start showing you today then. Do you have a time limit for tonight? I want to get an idea of how many properties we might be able to get it if we don't find the perfect one right away."_

"I have no time limit at all Eli, though I may need to take a break for food if we good too late. Shoot, I have to go Eli, the game's getting ready to start again. I'll give you a call when we're done here to give you a heads up."

"_Thank you, I'll see you later, good luck for your game"_

"Thank you"

"Hey Bells come on, we gotta start!!!" Rose yelled. I slipped my phone away and headed over.

"Sorry. Rose, do you think you can Em can drop me off at the Realtor's office on the way home? He just called to tell me he could get started today so if you won't get super mad at me I was gonna ditch the BBQ for some house hunting." I bit my lip and looked hopefully at her. I didn't want to ditch her but I didn't want to keep mooching off of her and Em. I wanted to get settled into my own place and feel like a grown up for once.

"Oh Bella. Of course you can ditch us. Do you want someone to go with you?"

"Nah, I'm not sure I'll find anything today. If it gets more serious or if I'm unsure I'll have somebody come with me. For now I think I'm OK." Rose smiled at me "Hey, we've got a game to play my darling, let's play."

We finished everything up in a neat and tidy bow. I have to say our team was pretty good. I under-estimated Mike. He was a bit on the cocky side, but he actually knew how to play the game surprisingly enough. Then again, I doubt Rose woulda let him stay on the team for long if he didn't. We were the last game of the day so we helped take down the nets and put everything away. I looked at my watch and it was only about 12:15.

"Hey Em!!!" I yelled out.

"What's up Bellsy?"

"Do you think we've got enough time to head back to your place so I can take a shower before somebody takes me over to the Real Estate office if I wanna make it there before 1/1:30ish?"

"Um… that all depends on you hun. If you take anywhere near as long as Alice or Rose you don't have a chance in hell. If you're like me, well, then we've got time to go grab lunch." Rose marched her long legs over to her man and whacked him in the back of the head. I knew there were reasons I loved this man.

"Assume my showers are closer to yours. Do you mind too terribly?"

"Nope, it'll give me a chance to warm up the grill before we get going. You guys ready?" Rose and I grabbed our bags and headed out. I gave Eli a quick call to let him know it'd be somewhere between 1 and 1:30 that I'd be showing up.

I took a quick shower, changed into some jeans and a fleece and ran down to meet Em. He's just finished with the grill and taking the wings out of the marinade. They looked awesome, I'm definitely jealous of everybody getting to eat those.

"I'll save you some for when you get back" I think Em's been spending too much time with Alice. He's beginning to know what I'm thinking before I do. So not cool.

Em dropped me off right at 1:15. He waved and said not to get something that was rat-infested. I laughed. Apparently Rose had told him the story of our dorm from freshman year.

Some idiot that had lived there before us had been feeding a nest of mice that lived in the closet wall so they'd just been multiplying instead of going elsewhere to find food and lodging. When we got there and didn't feed them anymore it was a mess. My first encounter with one, it ran out and same to sit on my lap while Rose and I were sitting on the floor studying. It just sat on my knee, turned around to look at me and sat down. The balls of that silly little mouse, are you kidding me? They're supposed to be afraid of humans, not come sit on our laps. In the end I killed something like 40 mice with traps just in our room alone. Maintenance had a standing order to drop off new traps once a week. I had a running tally on the door. I guess that's what you get for living in a Brownstone in Boston, right? Bleh. Em was right. No vermin for me.

I walked up to the door to the office and tried to open it, but it wouldn't open. The light was on, so I knocked. I saw movement off in the corner and a moment later a head of dark brown hair popped up over the desk partition and a tall man in his 40's with a very fatherly look about him walked up to the front door and unlocked it.

"Hi. Are you Bella?"

"I am. Eli?"

"That would be me. I was expecting you to be a little bit smellier and such since you said you were at a game. I guess you had a little bit of extra time?" he laughed.

"Yeah, I figured if I didn't want to smell me for the rest of the afternoon, I wouldn't' subject you to it. Sorry to keep you waiting."

"No no. You're just on time. I just got a call about a new place that some clients want to put on the market this morning. It actually fits your criteria pretty well so I wanted to add it to the list. Let me just grab a couple sets of keys and we can head out. He went into a back room and came out a couple minutes later.

"Are you ready? My car's in the side lot." We walked around as he locked the front door. He talked to me about the first few places he had lined up. He had mostly townhomes and condos for me to look at with a couple apartments as a last resort. He told me the new place that had just gone on the market today was one that he'd show me after the first couple. He something about keeping my options open until then because that one would be an interesting one. I figured the least I could do is hear him out so we started our great housing quest.

The first place we got to was a Brownstone. We found some street parking and walked up.

"OK, so as you can probably tell, this place doesn't have a dedicated parking spot all its own. It is subject to on-street parking so some days you'd get closer than others. And snowy weather could be a pain. But the building has the traditional Brownstone charm. The building has been split into three condos. One on each level. The available space is on the third floor. There's a wide staircase compared to many places in the area." We walked up three flights of stairs and I was already feeling winded. Granted I'd just played my first game in a while. But there would be times I'd work long shifts and walking those stairs would be a bitch. Holy cow. We went through the door and the view was amazing. It had huge beautiful windows overlooking the city and hardwood floors and a nice large living room. Eli took me around and showed me it was a 2 bedroom, but the 2nd bedroom was quite small. It was a 2 bath. And the kitchen was small. It also had rooftop access.

"I have to say that this is beautiful Eli, but I really need a bigger and better equipped kitchen. I really like to cook quite a lot and this kitchen would send me into fits of frustration. I don't see it happening."

"Sounds good. Let's go see the next place." He led me down the stairs and we took off to the next condo which was a loft style in an old revamped warehouse. Eli was telling me the building used to be an old textile mill and was just sitting around collecting dust until about 7 years ago. Somebody scooped it up and was just creating loft style spaces of all sizes. We actually saw two units. A 1 and a 2 bedroom. Both were first floor units facing out to a large landscaped courtyard. They had exposed brick and beamwork with hanging light fixtures and of course tall ceilings. The bedrooms were on a second floor on the far wall from the entrance. The Master bedroom was quite large with its own small balcony. They were each 2.5 baths, 1 ensuite for the master, the other full on the lofted hallway for the 2nd bedroom's access or other guests, and the half bath was downstairs. The upstairs bath And washer/dryer hook-ups on the first floor under the bedrooms and the kitchen space was to die for. Brand new stainless steel professional grade appliances, lots of counter space and a fantastic island. There was also a patio out from the living space with a fenced in yard.

"OK, Eli. This place is amazing. And from what you said, it's in my price range. What about the T and parking?"

"You get 2 spaces assigned with the unit. The T is about 4 blocks in that direction." He said as he pointed over my right shoulder. "Close enough to walk, far enough the trains won't keep you up at night."

"Eli this is looking perfect. I want this on the short list. Can I take a few pictures on my phone so I can think back and compare it later?"

"Sure, take as many as you want. Our next stop is that one from this morning that I wanted to show you then I'll show you a couple others for comparison sake that have everything you're looking for but I just didn't get the feeling they'd fit you. I know this is your first purchase and I want you to really get a feel for what's out there and not get pigeon-holed just cause you think you like it off the cuff." I was honestly surprised to hear that from him. But I figured we should keep looking and see what we got to. I took pictures of the kitchen, master bedroom, and living space from a couple angles.

"Alright, let's go look at the next one."

"Tally-ho" Eli offered me his arm and we set out.

We arrived only a couple minutes later and we were in a residential neighborhood. I was a little confused because this meant he was probably taking me to look at a house. Though we didn't talk about avoiding it, we also didn't talk about really including houses on the list. We got out of the car and walked up to a very large and beautiful 3 story house right in the middle of the street. It wasn't partitioned off as a duplex or multiplex so I turned to look at Eli with a very confused look on his face. Eli motioned to the porch swing and I sat down. He sat down on wooden railing.

"OK, so this is the place I was talking about this morning. You obviously noticed that it's not partitioned off as a duplex which leads me to believe that my assumptions about you were right." What in the hell was this man talking about? "Let's talk about the house for a couple minutes before we head in. Its 3 stories as you saw. 3rd story and basement are fully finished and livable spaces. Currently there is a tenant on the 3rd floor of the house. The basement was just vacated a month ago and it was decided to leave it empty for a short time while some details were hammered out. There is what you might call a house sitter occupying the 1st and 2nd floors at the moment which can be partitioned off or left as 1 unit." I'm still not quite getting all of this… hmm…

"Um, Eli, I'm not following completely. You seem to be leaving something out. Something kinda big."

"The owner currently listed for the house is Isabelle Katherine Swan. She purchased the house in May of 2001. However, as you know, …"

"She died about a year ago." I gasped out as it felt like my heart was stopping.

"She did. And in her will, she stated that she had purchased this house for you when you graduated. Actually, better yet, I have a copy of the will here with me." He rustled around in his bag for what I can only assume was the letter. I'm really really glad he'd told me to sit. Everything was slowing down. He finally pulled out an envelope from his bag, sealed, with my name in my grandmother's handwriting.

"Mr. Denali, I don't understand. How did it end up that you and I are sitting here? I asked my friends for names of Realtors."

"Bella, from what I understand your father knew what was going on. He knew that when you moved out here you'd be looking for a place and he had a feeling you'd ask for some names. All I know is that he somehow planted the bug in your friend, Rosalie is it?" I nodded "He planted the bug in her ear about me and we got the ball rolling from there." I nodded and looked down at the envelope.

"I'll be right inside when you're ready to take a look. Take as much time as you need."

I tore open the edge of the envelope and began to read.

_My Dearest Bella, _

_I hope this letter finds you in good health and relatively good spirits, although I can understand that the shock of what's going on at this moment is a bit unnerving. Let me try to explain a bit. You see, I knew from the time you were a very small girl that you weren't cut out for small town living. When you got your acceptance to school in Boston I had a very good feeling and made a financial investment I hoped would pay off. _

_As I write this, you have graduated school and are home taking care of your mother. Though with her illness, we hope for the best, we also know the hard truths of reality. There is a very high chance of the cancer coming back. So we support her and we are there to do what we can, but I cannot lie, I have much bigger hopes for you than to stay in Forks. If you're reading this, it means you've left Forks and you're at the house. For this I am nearly as proud of you as I was watching you take care of your mother. These are the two things I'm proudest of you for. Taking care of your family first when the need arose and then for recognizing when that need was in fact gone and it was time for you to move on and pursue your own dreams and goals. _

_Those times when you would come home for the holidays and tell us about how much you were enjoying school and the city and the plans you and the girls had were some of my happiest moments. I knew you had found a place that felt comfortable to you. _

_Yes, I purchased the house when you first found out you'd been accepted. It was always intended for you. I bought with you in mind. Complete with the kitchen, the large windows and the library. I wish I could have brought you into the house myself. Since that isn't possible. Please let Eli here show you everything. He's been managing the house and has done a fine job of helping me keep it in shape and upgrade as necessary. Now, please go and take a look at your new house. If it doesn't suit, you may sell it and find something else without guilt, but know that the house is paid for. Any and all rent made over the last nine years was put into a saving account. When your mother fell ill, I made the decision to open that account to pay off medical bills. When your father told you it was being taken care of, it truly was. Any and all rent from this point out is yours to do with what you may. Now, go and look around the house. Eli can answer many of your questions from this point. _

_I love you, always and forever, _

_Grandma Swan_

I wiped the tears from my eyes and folded the letter back into its envelope. Holy shit this was a lot to take in. I took a few deep breaths and realized I just needed to face the firing squad. Eli apparently held more answers for me, so I stepped inside the house and called out to him.

"Hi Bella, I know this must be a lot to take in and before we go any further I wanted to say that I'm sorry for misleading you. I did want you to see a few other places, but I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many visits before springing this on you. Can I ask how you're taking it all?" He seemed truly concerned.

"I'm just surprised I guess. I had no idea that my grandmother had bought this, or that my father new. And when he used to tell me my mother's medical bills or funeral costs were paid for, I thought he was just racking up debt. I've been trying to work him down to let me help him for years. Now I find out that not only did my grandmother have this place, but it helped pay for everything back home and will now be my home here. I just… I'm not sure what to think."

"I understand. Your grandmother and I became friends over the years. I was very careful as to what tenants I allowed into the house and when it looked like you were possibly coming, we didn't fill the vacancy for the main part of the house." I looked around anxiously trying to figure out if there was a second entrance or something. "Here let me show you around. It may clear up some confusion."

Eli walked me around showing me every room on the bottom 3 levels of the house. He paid special attention to the kitchen and the library that my grandmother had told him I'd love so much. The best part of the library was that it was in the turret. The rounded portion of the room was all windows and the other three walls were lined with bookshelves, even around the door. Books lined many of the shelves but there were many left to be filled with words of greatness. The kitchen was also amazing. It was somehow even better than the kitchen in the loft. It had all the stainless steel appliances and lots of counter space, but there was a sense of home. I don't know how she did it, but Grandma Swan made this my home before I ever knew it existed. The two main levels had 4 bedrooms and 3 baths total. And the basement and third floor both acted as independent apartments, complete with outside entrances out back. There was an internal staircase in the back that connected every level but it was largely unused. Eli told me that a woman named Charlotte Harris and that she'd lived there for about 3 years. She had been taking care of the other floors since the last tenant left the main living area about 6 months ago. The basement tenant only left last month. Until they'd had a chance to talk to me, Eli and my father hadn't wanted to make any decisions about new leases not knowing how many floors I'd want to occupy or if I'd even want to keep the house.

"I'm keeping it." I had no idea where that'd come from. I hadn't even been debating it really, but at the same time we hadn't gotten to the part of him asking. "I'm sure there's a lot for me to learn about this place, and I'm even more sure that there's a lot to do, but my grandmother knew me quite well. The idea of this place was in my head for a house in 20 or 30 years. I never in a million years thought I'd be able to be in something this amazing and perfect now. And the fact that my grandma left it for me just makes it that much more important."

"OK, it's getting pretty late, why don't we meet up again at some point later in the week and get started on the paperwork. I must confess one more instance of misleading you. The house does not actually belong to your grandmother. Since the day her will was read, all legal ownership was turned over to you. The deed's in your name, everything. Your father took care of taxes and whatnot and used the money from rent. There's more than enough after nine years of rent to pay for that and the utilities that have been used since the last renters vacated. We'll set you up with all of the accounts and whatnot. This week-"

"Hey Eli is that you? Did something happen? Is everything OK?" A strange voice came in from the back of the house.

"Hey Charlotte, come in here. I've got someone I'd like you to meet." One of the most gorgeous women I'd ever seen came down and through the kitchen. Slender yet muscular, wavy auburn hair that stopped just below the shoulders and the most stunningly piercing hazel eyes.

"Bella, this is Charlotte, Charlotte, Bella." Eli grinned and Charlotte looked utterly confused at first and slowly realization dawned.

"Wait, THE Bella? Mrs. Swan's Bella?" Eli just nodded.

"Oh Bella, I'm so glad to meet you. I've been waiting for years. I was so sorry to hear that your grandmother passed away, then your mother too. It's been a rough year for you. I only met your grandmother once, but she had such a way about her. She could put an angry army at ease, at least if they let her near the front lines. I swear. Oh dear, look at me rambling on. I'm so sorry." I have to talk to her about my mom. I still hadn't even told them my mom had died. The girls loved my mom and I hadn't been in the right place to have them come out to the funeral. They were gonna be pretty pissed about that. I'd get to that at some point.

"Please don't be sorry. I'm sorry if I seem a little shell shocked. I just found out about this place today and meeting people who knew my grandmother and I guess it's just that this is a lot of information to take in."

"Oh Honey, Please don't be sorry at all." Eli cleared his throat.

"Bella, I think we're about done for today. If you have time tomorrow I'd like to meet with you and start all of the paperwork and whatnot. We'll have to meet with the lawyer here who's been keeping things together for you and make a trip to the bank. Would you like to get started around 10?"

"Yes, that sounds wonderful. Charlotte, I'd love to spend some time getting to know you too. I feel like you may be a huge source of knowledge about this house. Would you have some time this week?"

"Actually" my heart sank, "I've got the rest of the night wide open. I was thinking about going to grab some Chinese a few blocks away. I can show you some shops and the supermarket and we can bring the food back here. Then I can take you back to pick up your car when we're done. How does that sound."

"Even better, but I don't have a car. The friends I'm staying with don't like all that far away though, if you don't mind."

"Not at all. Bye Eli, see you later." And Eli waved as he walked out the door. He locked it behind him and Charlotte pulled me up the stairs in the back to her place.

**AN: Feedback is welcome: the good, bad and ugly.**


	6. Details

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. I don't have experience in Law really. So specifics will be somewhat vague please take it as a best guess. If someone has more knowledge on this area of things I'm quite open to assistance for a re-draft.**

**Chapter 6 - Details**

**BPOV**

Charlotte pulled me up the back stairs to her place after waving goodbye to Eli and we slid into the 3rd floor of the house. I was fairly surprised at how high the ceilings were. They weren't vaulted, but typical height wasn't bad for a 3rd floor. It definitely had more of a loft feel. There were 3 bedrooms and I could see 1 bathroom. They were the only rooms closed off by walls though Charlotte had done a really good job of arranging furniture to create rooms in an open space. I was impressed, the whole place had an incredibly open feel. Many of the windows were settled in little nooks and when you looked in them there was an aire of majesty being so high up and being able to see so much of what was going on around us. I might need her help downstairs when I finally got in.

We ended up sitting up there for hours. We opted for Thai food instead of Chinese since I hadn't had any good Thai since moving back West and filled each other in on everything. Our jobs, our friends, our lives in general. I knew Charlotte's dating life was for shit but she loved her job working for the public library system as their Children's Education Coordinator very much (not too shabby for working in Boston, right?). She talked so enthusiastically about storytimes and holiday events. It was almost painful to see this woman living alone no family to speak of. I told her about growing up on the West Coast, having gone to school here but going back home almost immediately to help with some family stuff but now being back and having this place almost literally fall in my lap. She knew about the girls and my love for volleyball and my new job starting next week. I also asked her not to mention the passing of my mother to any of my friends yet. I told her how they knew about my grandma, but not my mom and that it was going to be quite the blow. She nodded but didn't say much.

"Oh Bella, would it be alright if I helped you move in and settle and get used to this place this week? I know there's so much to get used to. Eli has been having me do a lot of the day to day stuff so I know where all the little things like water shut-offs and fuse-boxes are. I can help with all of that. I have a few programs I definitely have to be at this week along with a couple meetings but I've got a TON of vacation time I need to use and I'd really love to do this."

"Charlotte, I would love nothing more than to have your help. I know the gang will all be working so I was planning on doing a whole lot of this alone. Plus, I really like your eye for arranging furniture and such. I have to go through a lot of stuff downstairs and see what I want to put where or maybe not keep at all. But I'm going to need help. I'd love yours." Charlotte grinned and I let out a monsterous yawn. Charlotte looked at her watched and her eyes just about popped out of her head.

"Shit, Bella. It's ten till midnight. I have no idea how it got so late. Let me take you back to your friend's house." Holy cow. I needed to call them or text them to let them know I was alive. I reached into my bag to grab my phone. 14 missed calls, 6 new voicemails and 9 new text messages. I scrolled through the texts first.

HEY BELLS, DID YOU FIND ANYTHING? –EM

B. ARE YOU GONNA BE BACK HERE FOR DINNER? –R

I KNOW YOUR PROBABLY DOING WELL AND ALL, BUT EM IS A BIT WORRIED, CAN YOU CALL THEM. – A

B. PLEASE CALL EM, HE WON'T STOP CALLING US. –J

BELLA-BOO, ARE YOU OK? NO ONE'S HEARD FROM YOU AND YOU'RE NOT ANSWERING YOUR PHONE. PLEASE CALL ASAP. –EM

IT'S GETTING LATE, ARE YOU DEAD? – EM

WE'VE LEFT YOU 5 MESSAGES, YOU'RE NOT PICKING UP. NOBODY'S PICKING UP AT THAT REALTY OFFICE. BELLA-BOO, DON'T DIE ON ME HONEY. –EM

CALL ME NOW!!!- EM

IF YOU DON'T CALL ME BY MIDNIGHT I'M CALLING THE COPS AND WE'RE LAUNCHING AN ALL OUT SEARCH AND RESCUE. THIS WHOLE THING SOUNDS FISHY. –EM

I didn't even bother listening to my messages. I assumed they were more of the same. I just dialed Em.

::Ring:: "BELLA!!! Where are you, are you hurt, is there bleeding. I think Edward's working, if not I'll wake his ass up. Did somebody hurt you? I'll kill the fucker that touched you. Wait, did they kill you, what do they want for ransom? Bella, Geez, talk to me."

"Em, I'm OK."

"What do you mean you're ok, you haven't picked up your phone in almost 12 hours. Nobody knew where the fuck you were. We couldn't even use that little fucking ipone app to locate your friend cause you don't have a bleeping ipone. Where are you? I'm getting in the jeep right now."

"Em, it's OK. Charlotte's giving me a ride home. A lot's happened today."

"Bells, who's Charlotte?"

"She's part of the story. I'll tell everybody tomorrow if we're still on for Lasagna night. Actually I want to see if she can come too."

"Bells, you may as well tell us when you get here, I, um, I…"

"He been fucking pacing the house like a paranoid father on prom night. We're here anyway Bells." Came Rose's voice yelling into the mic from next to him I assume.

"Alright guys, I'll be there in a few.

I hung up and looked at Charlotte. I rolled my eyes, she let out a barreling laugh she'd been trying desperately to hold in for the last 5 minutes. She motioned to the door and led me out to her car. I gave Charlotte the address and she looked at me like I had 7 heads.

"What?"

"You do realize that's like 8 blocks from here don't you?"

"Seriously?" she nodded. This was going to be better than I thought. We drove off to meet out fate.

We pulled up to the house and sure enough. Lights were blazing and Em was still pacing. Rose, Alice and Jasper were sitting on the couch holding mugs in their hands and as we stepped through the door a faint scent of peppermint hit me. I looked over at the girls. Alice gestured with her head towards the kitchen.

"Two mugs already have chocolate mix and peppermint schnapps in them on the counter. All you need to do is all the water from the kettle. We didn't want it to cool off. We figured we could use a little Chocolate Love." I danced over to give Rose and Alice a kiss on the head and motioned for Charlotte to follow me.

Chocolate Love was what we called hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps. It's probably been around for decades but we didn't care. It was ours. We'd make it in to-go mugs on really cold mornings for walking to the train station before class or when we had too much homework on snowy night and just wanted to pretend= to be a kid again. It was our grown-up comfort drink. All the memories of hot chocolate with just a little kick.

We finished mixing the drinks and went back into the living room to take our seats. We opted for the floor right in front on the coffee table, facing both couches.

"OK, Em, I need you to sit." He glared icicles at me. "I can't do this with you walking a hole in the ground so either you sit your happy ass down or I just wait." And I did just that. I leaned back on the couch with my Chocolate Love and I waited. He relented and plopped down next to Rosie who was trying desperately trying not to smirk. The girls were waiting patiently. Em on the other hand started to ask questions. I just held up my hand.

"Em, you will make a wonderful father one day, especially to a fantastic little girl. But I am not her. I will talk first, then it will be question time. You all need to get to bed so you're not dead at work tomorrow, understood?" he nodded slowly.

"OK, first of all… gang, this is Charlotte Harris, Charlotte, that big overgrown oaf is Emmett. Next to him is Rosalie. And over here we have Alice and Jasper." Everyone nodded and said their pleasantries. "OK, now that that's done, Charlotte's part of the story comes in a little later, please bear with me." And I dove in.

I told them about meeting Eli, starting the house/apt/condo hunt and then pulling to this beautiful house, about the letter, I passed around the letter, I told them about how absolutely gorgeous both the outside and inside of the house were. And then I told them about Charlotte.

"I've got to go meet with Eli tomorrow to start working on paperwork and get everything rolling with the bank. I'm not sure how long everything will take. I don't know when I'll get to move in or when I'll get to start living here, but on the bright side, the place is really close. It's like 7 or 8 blocks from here guys. And it has a lot of furniture already. I may have to change some of it out but so much of it is actually pretty modern. I want to you guys to all come see it as soon as possible. It's so big, and I really don't want it to just me Charlotte and me all the time." Alice was the first one to speak up.

"Bells, we'd love to come see your place and spend time there. What street is it on anyway?"

"East Genesee St." Her eyes widened, almost imperceptibly.

"Really? Which house? What number?" I couldn't quite remember so I looked at Charlotte hoping she'd help me out. She was right on the ball.

"2000." Jasper chuckled slightly and I lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Oh nothing darling. It's just that a friend of ours has a little thing for that house.

"Oh" What the hell was I supposed to say to that.

"Hey guys, I don't know about all of you, but I know but Alice and I have early shifts at the hospital. And Em, don't you have to go in at 8 tomorrow?" He told us he did.

"Thanks for the Chocolate love everyone. It was great meeting you. It seems our paths will be crossing often. I want you guys to know you can always come knock on my door if you guys are over, or stopping by. Mrs. Swan told me such wonderful things about Bella and I feel like anyone who could be friends with Bella would be really really cool people to get to know. I'll see you guys around." And Charlotte went to walk towards to door.

"Um Charlotte?" she turned. "Remember how I mentioned Lasagna Night was tomorrow night?" she nodded with her head slightly crooked. "I'd be honored and grateful if you'd join us for it tomorrow. We start eating at 7:30 but we'll all start trickling in around 6/6:30. You game?" Charlotte's mouth turned into a grin.

"I'll be here after work. Can I bring anything?"

"We've got enough Lasagna, garlic bread, salad and wine to feed an army."

"OK, I'll see you tomorrow. Bye everybody." And Charlotte left us.

Alice and Jasper were packing up to leave but not before Alice enveloped me in a pixie version of a bear hug. "I knew you were going to find the right place today. I like Charlotte, I think we'll keep her. Things are coming together my fair Sync. Things always work out in the end." Alice let me go and danced out the door with Jasper. He turned around as he closed the door to give me a wink.

"Goodnight guys. Oh and Em, I'm meeting with Eli tomorrow to start the paperwork. We'll meet with the lawyer who took care of things here as well as a bank. I don't know when I'll be back but I promise it'll be before Lasagna Night, K? No calling in the Cavalry."

"Alright little sister, but it was only because we love you. I don't want anything bad to happen. You scared us."

"I love you too Em, goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow." We all turned off the lights, checked the doors and windows and headed up.

I pulled on my PJs and climbed under the covers and just stared at the ceiling thinking about everything that had happened today: I had a house, my grandmother had seen something in me that I hadn't fully recognized myself until after I'd been back in Forks, I gained a new friend and I was going to be responsible for other people living arrangements. Holy fuck I'm a fricking landlord. I don't know how to do that. I need to talk to Eli and maybe the lawyer about that. I don't know anything about leases or contractor when things break. I'm so going to have a panic attack. Bella! FUCKING BREATH!!! I slowed down my breathing and closed my eyes and my heart rate finally came back to me. I had a lot to learn it seems. My eyes were wide with absolutely no sleep in sight so I got up to grab my notebook out of my laptop bag and started to make a list of all of the things I needed to get settled or learn out. To start off with, the house paperwork. I needed deeds, keys, all the tax info etc. I didn't know the first thing about owning a house. I needed a homeownership for dummies course right about now. I needed to find out what I could about leases and the leases that had been set up here. I needed to see about a list of handymen to have on hand in case something happened or a really good contractor. I was hoping Eli could help me with a bunch of this. It was going to help a lot that I wasn't going to have to pay rent or mortgage myself, but I had no idea how much might be in the old savings account. OK, I can't do anything until I find out more. I need to sleep to try to dream of good things. I can't do anything just yet.

I grabbed my iPod and pulled up my classical music hoping I could just drift into sleepy land. I got through Bach's Toccata and Fuge in D, back in my music history class we called it the 'Little Fuge'. We sang the words 'Bach is dead, cause someone shot him in the head' to the melody (and no, that is not the way Bach died). It was a quite therapeutic. I got a good mix of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and then the last thing I remember was Gabrielli before my eyes finally closed. It could have been 9 minutes later it could have been 3 hours later. It's hard to tell seeing as so many of those songs are over 20 minutes each. Either way, my eyes closed.

I woke up to the sun streaming in the window. The house was pretty silent, not surprisingly. So I made my way into the bathroom to shower and grabbed a quick breakfast. Just enough time to grab the train to the real estate office. So I locked up and headed out.

The train ride was fairly quick. And this time the Real Estate office was a bit busier than it had been yesterday. I could see a number of employees and a few buyers milling around inside. I walked up to the reception desk as a slender curly haired blond looked up at me and smiled.

"Hi I'm Anne, Welcome to City Real Estate. How can I help you today?"

"I'm here to see Eli, I'm sorry, Eleazar Denali. I believe he's expecting me."

"Ms. Swan?" I nodded. "Come right this way. He's getting things ready for you in the conference room. And by the way, we do call him Eli around here, no worries."

"Thank you." She showed me into a door on one of the walls and Eli was at the table with some paperwork.

"Hey Bella, come on in. Thanks Anne. Mr. Gage will be here shortly if you wouldn't mind sending him in."

"Sure thing" and she closed the door as she left. I sat down and just took everything in.

"Alright Bella, Mr. Gage is the lawyer your grandmother had been employing here to keep everything going. When he gets here we'll go over all those details. In the mean time I wanted to outline some details of your whole situation. Do you need anything to drink before we begin?"

"That would be nice." He reached into a mini-fridge under the side table and grabbed us both a bottle of water. "OK, so let's start with the basic information. Your grandmother bought the house that you went to visit the year you left for college, so 9-10 years ago now. She paid for it outright seemingly from an insurance policy that she'd gotten from your grandfather's death years before. At the time, the house was a fixer-upper. Not completely dilapidated but not in pristine condition. She and I worked together to find a handiman, Teddy, who has either done much of the work himself or has hired it out over the years. He's very reputable with great references and really does this more as a hobby. His day job is building houses for a construction firm out in the suburbs. He's one of the bosses though so if something ever comes up, he takes a bit off and comes out to take a look. We've always worked with him to help give him an idea of the severity of the problem to help limit the time he has to take away from his primary job as we don't want to lose him and he has a sentimental attachment to the house as well. His costs are incredibly reasonable Bella. He almost doesn't charge for labor. He definitely charges for parts and labor for crews if he has to hire out but most often gets discounts.

"One thing he and I, as well as your grandmother, wanted you to know is that this house was once one of the most beautiful in Boston. Unfortunately, it belonged to some unsavory sorts for a number of years and fell into disarray. Your grandmother saw the charm and beauty in it and felt you would be happy here. It has some amazing craftsman-like features. Teddy has really helped us bring it back to life." Eli slid what looked to be before and after photos to me. I'm sure my jaw dropped. The before: chunks of wooden siding were hanging off the house, shudders were completely missing, windows were broken, there were holes in the roof, support posts were bent awkwardly away from the house. Then the after: intricate gingerbread cutouts all along the rooftops, shudders were all freshly painted, all the siding was repaired and looked to be newly stained, and the roof was now new, there was even fresh landscaping. It was hard to think this was the same house. It obviously was. One was well abused and one well loved.

"Your grandmother asked Teddy to put in the back staircase when he had much of the rest of the house done. She didn't want to mar the face of the house. As far as the post office is concerned the main address is 2000 East Genesee St. however the attic or 3rd floor is unit A, the 2nd floor if separated from the main floor is considered unit B, and the basement is unit C. All mail comes in the front door mail slot and is redeposit into mail receptacles near the back door. I believe you saw that there was a mud-room like area there for coats and shoes as well as the mail and laundry. Mrs. Cope, who'd lived on the main level previously put packages back there when they were delivered." I could only nod. Me being responsible for others, I couldn't even keep a freaking goldfish alive. Are we really serious here?

Just then there was a knock at the door and Anne slowly opened with a medium height golden-skinned man behind her. "Mr. Gage is here." He slowly came in and set up on the opposite side of the table from me. He shook Eli's hand and then introduced himself to me.

"Bella Swan I presume?" I nodded. "I'm William Gage. I worked with your grandmother to get the affairs of the house together. I understand you've only recently found out about all of this."

"Yes, even at the reading of my grandmother's Will there was no indication of this at all. I'm just really shocked."

"That's perfectly understandable Ms. Swan. I'm not here to make your head swim. I'm here, as is Eli, to make things easier for you. You will leave here and won't have absorbed everything we've said. You'll have to ask questions again, and that's OK. If you had family close I'd ask you to have them here with you ask another set of ears but Eli here has said he will be able to make himself available to you for follow-up questions. I will also be available, though I do have a couple cases coming up soon that will make my time a bit more sparse."

"Thank you, and please call me Bella. OK, I guess we should get started."

"Mr. Gage, Bella knows the house was bought outright roughly 10 years ago and that renovations were made with the help of Teddy to make the house both more aesthetically pleasing as well as turn it into a multi-family home. I'd discussed with her previously that an account was set up to hold rent fees that that money has been used to pay taxes. I also let her know that that money was used to help pay her mother's medical bills. That's about where we are at this point."

"That is the overall story. In short, after the medical bills were paid off there is 2.1 million dollars." And CUT. There is absolutely NO way I heard that correctly.

"Excuse me WHAT?!?!?" How the hell is there that much money. Even at $2k a month per unit for 9 years (assuming time off for renovations and in between tenants) that's not even $650k. "Mr. Gage, I'm no math wiz, but if my quick calculations going just by going rate in the area around here rent alone for the 3 units wouldn't have even brought in $650k since my grandmother bought the house, let alone paid all the medical bills that my mother incurred after her illness."

"I understand your thoughts Bella, let me explain. Rents in this neighborhood have always been on the higher side. It's a very residential neighborhood and once this place was renovated, property values did go up. That being said. For all but the last year, we had been renting out the house at 4 units not 3. Then, for the first 4 years, ALL of the money was not only in a high yield savings account but in mutual funds and CDs. Long term investments with the knowledge that you would be in school before the house would be yours. We were very lucky in which investments were made. About a year after the construction was complete and tenants had moved in, your grandmother had also taken out extra health/life/disability insurances on herself, both of your parents and yourself. At first your parents did not know about these policies. After your mother got sick and money worries became a huge part of her recovery as well as your father's ability to continue taking care of all of you, she met with them and told them.

The extra health insurance covered a substantial part of the costs involved with your mother's treatment and the remainder was in fact was paid for by the 'rent account', but the amount needed was minimal. Her disability insurance helped keep things day to day running well. Then when your mother passed away her life insurance went directly to your father. I believe he took care of funeral arrangements as well paying for your tuition."

What the Fuck!!! Are you kidding me? Tuition was paid for?

"You are actually named as the beneficiary of your grandmother's life insurance policy. When she passed, it was stated in her will that you not be informed about the money until such time as you were aware of the house or married. If you married prior to finding out, everything was to be made known to you. Obviously, you're finding out prior to a little white chapel so that part of the equation is not an issue. The 'rent account' is in fact in your name. It's yours to do with what you want. You can buy another house, go on vacation, go back to school, save an extinct animal. Whatever you wish. All we need to do is go over to the bank later and we can set things up into a linked checking account. We can go do that after we're done here. I have all the appropriate paperwork for the bank to get you set up. So far, do you have any questions?"

"What has been going on with leases? How does that work? I mean I have no idea how to be a landlord."

"That has been a standardized lease. There's a basic lease that the state of Massachusetts uses that can be altered to fit your needs. We've done that to include the situation of the house as a whole as well as each individual unit. Things like entering the house as a whole, changes in lease terms and parking. The rent has been made out to Isabella Swan since the house was bought so nothing there will change. You'll need to make a couple decisions. The most important of which is whether or not you want to live on just the 1st floor or the 1st and 2nd. Though you don't have to tell us right now, you do need to think about it. Now that you're going to live there, I'm assuming you'd like to rent out the basement apartment."

"Yes, how do you typically go about that?"

"We would list the apartment through City Real Estate, and because of the relationship that they formed, Eli is the only agent that has ever worked with this house. I'll let him speak to how he goes about that."

"Your grandmother had very been very clear that every person that lived in this house was someone that she'd be able to trust being friends with her granddaughter. They needed to be those who could be trusted to eat at the same table and sleep in within the same walls at you. One of the reasons your grandmother and I got along so well is because I have 3 daughters of my own. I knew exactly what she meant and was looking for. I have worked very hard to make sure that each person who comes into this house is trustworthy, honest and good. Part of that is a background check including checking references, and part of that is a feeling. I can promise you to continue on filling any vacancies that may occur but above and beyond, you have final say if you'd like to be part of the process."

"Thank you but at this point I don't know anything about tenant selection so I'd rather leave that to you. I'll think about whether I want both floors or not but for now can I live on both I can always give up the second later but I can't ask for it back after I've given it away."

"Most definitely. And since we only need to give you copies of things, and there's really no paperwork for you to sign, I'll hand you these." Eli slid a keychain with a set of keys on it. "A, B and C are for the specified apartments unmarked key is for the back door and big key is for the front door."

"Bella, are you ready to head over to the bank? We can head over there and wrap that up before the end of the day and then you're good to go. You can start moving in. Sound like a plan?"

"Yeah, let's go."

We headed over to the bank. I stood back as Mr. Gage went and talked to a representative. We ended up talking to the assistant manager. I opened a checking account with them as well. I transferred enough over to make sure I could do a few things around the house with furniture and I was toying around with the idea of a car. I figured with over $2 million I could afford to put $100K into a checking account. I figured that would last me a while. We wrapped up and it was just after lunch so I headed back to Rose and Em's and started on the Lasagna. Might as well get ready for the night.

I had already decided I didn't want to tell the gang about my newfound fortune. I didn't want them to treat me differently I would use it for whatever good I could though. Dinners at my place was the first of what I could do. But before my friends got home, I needed to call my dad.

I dialed my cell and he picked up after a couple rings.

"Hello"

"Hey Charlie. So, um, do you have a few minutes. I kinda wanted to talk to you about some things that have happened here lately."

"Sure Bells, I'm guessing you either met a guy or you met Eli. Which is it?" I shoulda known he'd cut to the chase.

"Um, I met Eli. So I'm told you knew about all of this."

"Well I found out about it after your Mom got sick. Grandma had said something about buying an investment property but she never told us where until then. She made up promise not to tell you until you were ready."

"But how was she supposed to know when I was ready?"

"She used to say that you'd know what you wanted in life when you either found the man of your dreams and got married or when you decided to make Boston your home. She always saw you there. She said there was a fundamental spark that changed when you stepped off of that plane and onto campus. She saw you light up for the first time ever. She called it magic. But she also said she knew before that. Anyway, when you told me you were going to move out there and start looking I just called Alice and asked her to make sure you talked to Eli but not to tell her I sent you to him. I told her that he was an old friend, which he's become. So I think she and Rose told you some of their friends had gone through them. I wasn't supposed to tell you Bells. I'm sorry."

"It's OK Charlie, I'm not mad. I just wanted to let you know that I met with Eli and the lawyer today and we took care of everything at the bank too. I've got the keys so I'll move over tomorrow I guess. Although, I think I'm going to get a car, for all those times I might want one just in case."

"Not a bad idea Bells. Let me know if I can help at all with that. I'll let you know."

::Ding Dong::

"Hey Dad, I've gotta run. The doorbell just rang. I'll talk to you later. You know the new address right?"

"Yeah, bye Bells. I love you."

"Love you too."

I threw my phone over to the couch and ran over to the door. I looked through the peephole and saw a UPS man dropping off a box. I opened the door, yelled thanks and brought the box in. It seemed to be some shirt company so I was guessing Alice just had our team shirts shipped here since there was a better chance of someone being home here than at her place. Not to mention ease of drop off. So I put the box over to the corner and headed back into the kitchen to make sure everything was at least semi-ready. Food just needed to be baked and white wine was in the fridge as was the beer. Red wine was picked out so I figured we were set. I debated making a dessert but I figured we had a gallon of ice cream in the freezer. So I just sat back to think about everything I had to fill the gang in on today. And after about 5 minutes realized I still had 3 hours so I opted to pull out my laptop and start researching cars.

First stop, consumer reports. I sat there thinking about what kinds of car I wanted. What did I want it to do, to be? Then it hit me. I wanted something I could drive to the trails with me if I wanted to go. I wanted something should deal with snow well. Something that could hold sports our outdoor equipment well. I had an idea. I looked and the dealership locally had it. I even liked the color they had. I called them and asked if I could come see it tomorrow and that I was very interested in taking a peek. They told me they'd hold off any activity on it.

I looked up just as Em was busting through the door.

"Honey, I'm home."

"I'm glad Emmy-Bear, now go wash up for dinner. When everybody gets here I'll fill you in." Em ran up the stairs to change and get ready. I looked up at the clock. 6:10. Mission accomplished. I wasted my time by finding a car. It's been a very productive day. I wonder if the rest of today can live up to the hype I've created for myself.

I needed a drink.

**AN: Thanks for the feedback so far. Happy New Year!!!**


	7. Family Dinner

**AN: SM owns characters. Some places do exist; all other coincidences are just that. **

**Chapter 7 – Family Dinner**

**BPOV**

The gang started trickling in. Alice was in just after Em. She noticed the big box almost instantly and squeals echoed for a swear 3 minutes. I virtually had to handcuff Em to the Xbox to keep him out of the kitchen. It was our traditional Lasagna Night fare. I'd made 2 big pans of lasagna. Now this was not the thin wimpy stuff. This was Bella's recipe which meant lots and lots of layers and lots of meat and cheese. We were really big on cheese in our little group. We had 4 loaves of garlic bread, 1 of plain buttered bread (you never know if somebody just doesn't want some). I topped it off with a giant Greek salad. I'd picked up some bottles of some of our all time favorite wines. I still didn't have to head into work yet, and I knew nobody had a really really early morning. And for dessert I'd picked up all the fixings for ice cream sundaes. I peeked into the oven and the top layer of cheese on the lasagna was almost a perfect golden brown. Just a few more minutes. Rose walked in as I closed the door to the oven and asked if she could help. I asked her to pull down the wine glasses and serve up everybody's favorites.

"Um, Bells?" I looked over at Rose who was now shifting a bit against the countertop. "Now that you're back and I've got my own kitchen and you will soon, do you think you'd mind helping me in the kitchen again? I mean, when we were back in the apartment you were showing me how to do some of the little stuff and I felt like I was learning slowly. And then when you left I panicked at first and didn't want to try so I did take-out for a long time. Then I started again and I just feel like I get into the trap of doing the same stuff over and over again. Chicken breast a few different ways, lemon salmon with potatoes, rice or pasta. But I still can't really cook. I'm bored with my own food and you know how Emmett eats. I just feel so bad. I want him to love what I make just as much as when we go out or when you cook." The tears were definitely on the verge of falling. I stepped closer to her and grabbed her hands.

"Oh honey. First of all, yes my dear Kanga. I will help you learn anything you want to learn in the kitchen. We can go find new recipes I don't know. We can start your own cookbook. We'll experiment and use the gang as guinea-pigs if you'd like. That was point number one." Rose sniffed and I drew her in for one of our giant cuddle-hugs "A very close second point is that I need you to know that Emmett loves you no matter what you feed him right? That man has loved you since the day you walked into that gym."

"Bella's right Baby" Rose gasped and turned to look over my shoulder. Em stepped forward toward Rose and I backed away and went to sit in the dining room. They didn't need an audience for this conversation.

"Rosie, I never told you this just because of the way everything happened but the day you blew out your knee was not the first day I'd seen you. I'd been working at that gym for over a year and I'd watched you. I'd see you the day you'd signed up and was blown away by your beauty, I'd watched you work out in the weight room and was impressed at your knowledge of the human body and how to manipulate it to attain a physical goal without flaunting it. I was there the day that toddler, Joel from daycare ran away from the teachers straight into the weight room and you managed to not only launch yourself across the room in almost no time at all saving him from knocking himself out on that weight-bar that happened to be eye level while smashing your iPod to smithereens with the dumbbell you'd been holding while keeping him so calm he never knew there was any danger at all. You're beyond gorgeous, you're smart, you have a huge heart, you were my enigma. I tried talking to you a couple times and you just answered my question quickly and moved on."

"Wait, you did?" He nodded. "I had no idea"

"I know. I saw you ignore or shoot down every other guy who tried to pick you up so I tried a different approach with you. I tried to just be helpful or be a friend. Except that didn't work either. You didn't even know I existed. I didn't give up though. One day we had a bunch of balls left out after the after-school kids had gone and you picked up a volleyball and started hitting it against the wall. I asked Angela if she thought we'd have enough people interested in a pick-up game so we asked around and got it started. I was thrilled when you showed up that first day."

"I saw the flyers. I missed playing so badly. I missed my girls" Em just smiled at her.

"I can honestly say I didn't much care then why you came, as long as you did. I wanted so badly to get to know more about you. You walked in and you just looked so happy. I knew we had to make sure we kept it going. I can't explain other than to say that something about the way you light up when you're happy makes me the happiest man on the planet. Then the day I heard the gasps and the gym go silent only to walk in and find you on the ground and be told you had a run-in with a kick-ball was one of the worst days of my life. I know you tried to be brave but you were in so much pain and that ripped my heart out." Rose's tears couldn't be contained anymore. They were silently falling down her cheeks. Em held her hands to his heart. "Rosie baby, I knew I had to help you, protect you. But I knew I had to be careful. You see I'd picked up enough to know that you stayed away from the men at the club. You interacted as was necessary but did what you needed to not bring unnecessary attention. I saw you start to panic when a couple of the guys from your team came over to try and help. That's why I jumped in like I did." Rose looked up.

"I remember your voice was so firm but so soft. You told them to clear out and just took control. You calmed me down and I trusted you. I hadn't trusted a guy in a long time."

"Rosie, you scared the shit out of me that day. I couldn't leave you until I knew you were OK. And After talking to Bella on the phone, I couldn't leave you alone."

"And you haven't left me alone since."

"I'm not planning on it anytime in the future either. You're stuck with me for a long long time babe. That's just a fact."

::BZZZZZZZZZZZ::

"Sorry guys, I think the Lasagna's done." They both just looked over and smiled at me. Em kissed Rose's head and Rose hugged him tight.

"Bella, even though this lug here says he loves me anyway, I still want to learn some stuff in the kitchen if you're still up for it." I couldn't help but smile.

"Absolutely. We can make weekly dates of it if you'd like. Maybe we can even do a weekly get together with the gang and you and I can cook together. I'd love to teach you anything and everything I can. If you have recipes in mind we can start there, or you can look through my cook-book and we can go from there."

"I like the idea of a gang-night, although we might want to call it something else. Why don't we see if everybody else is game and see when and where."

"Sounds good." I pulled out the trays of lasagna and bread just as we heard the front door and Jasper walked in with Charlotte right on his heels.

"Hey Y'all, look who parked right behind me."

"Hey everybody." She waved and set down her bag by the couch.

"Alright, is everybody ready?" I asked. I was heading toward the dining room with the piping hot trays of pasta. Alice was just finishing up setting the table. I headed back into the kitchen for the bread and started putting it into a couple of bread baskets. I'd learned a long time ago with these guys that it was better to put out two containers of bread on opposite ends on the table so there wouldn't be any fighting. I set down the bread and realized we had an extra seat. Rose and Em were already sitting, Alice and Jasper were walking in with the bottles of wine. Charlotte was standing up right in front of me yet there was still an extra seat after I sat down.

"Um Ali, Is somebody else coming?"

"Edward was supposed to be here. I'm not sure where he is though. I told him 7:30. He knew it was lasagna night. He said he was pretty excited, he'd been eating cafeteria food all week."

"I'll give him a call and see if he's on his way. Maybe he's just having trouble finding a parking spot." Jasper went to go grab his phone. "Go ahead and dish everything up, but don't start telling us anything yet kiddo."

"Sure thing."

"Alright, garlic bread's on the table, regular bread's in the kitchen in the oven on warm in case anybody's not feeling the garlic." We all started passing plates around so we could dish things out. Jasper walked in not even a minute later with his forehead scrunched up.

"Well, I got voicemail. Not bad, not good. He shouldn't have gotten called back into work. Let's go ahead. We can fill him in later. We've got a lot of filling in to do with him anyway."

"Are you guys sure this Edward guy even exists? I mean really. Who the hell is he?" I asked

Charlotte busted out laughing. Alice snorted, Rose smirked, Emmett gasped in feined horror and Jasper just looked at me like I was stupid.

"Wait, you're serious." He said to me.

"Yep."

"Bella, It's Edward we're talking about here. He's as real as you or me."

"So I keep hearing. How do I know you guys aren't just making this shit up for some stupid ask joke. He's supposed to be a doctor, but doctors get time off. He's supposed to be your friend but I've yet to see him or talk to him." Jasper just kept looking at me. Rose spoke up.

"Bells hun. I promise you he's real. He's actually a Dr. in our hospital. He's on a joint OB/GYN, Ortho rotation right now so his schedule's a bit odd. Even more off than most. We've known him about as long as we've known Emmett."

"Alright, alright. Fine, he just seems like a ghost. Let's just get to the point of things and enjoy the rest of the night." Everybody nodded or shrugged so I took a deep breath and started.

"OK, so you all know about the house. My grandmother left me the house and I went today to take care of the details so I could move in. Well I still have to decide whether I want to live on just the 1st floor or the both the 1st and 2nd floors but as of today I've got all the keys."

"Wow, that's so quick. That's awesome Bells" Rose said.

"Does that mean you're leaving us?" Asked Emmett.

"When do we get to decorate?" Started Alice.

"Hold on everybody. Yes it's excellent. Yes, I'll be leaving you and Rose, Em. You guys deserve to have your house back. You've been great to let me crash here but this needed to be temporary and you don't need me cramping your style. And as far as decorating, The house is furnished already so we'll have to decide what to keep and what to replace along with the painting and such. But I have keys so we can start soon. Eli, the realtor who's always worked with the house is going to start helping to find someone to rent out the basement unit soon too. If you want, Alice, we can go take a look at that tomorrow and you can see if you want to do anything to that before he rents it out to entice a different type of renter. And Charlotte, decorating goes for your place too. If you'd like new colors on the walls or anything, it's hard to stop Alice once she gets started."

Alice was practically bouncing out of her chair before our eyes. Charlotte just looked at her with wide eyes. "Is she for real?" Charlotte asked me as she pointed to the hyper pixie.

"As a heart attack!" replied Emmett.

"OK, knowing you guys is going to be interesting isn't it?"

"Darlin, you have no idea. You're gonna have to hold on to your britches." Jasper just smirked then leaned over to whisper something in Alice's ear.

"Now, as far as when I move into the new place, I had an idea first. Rose, you had part of tomorrow off right?" She nodded.

"Actually, I just found out today it's the whole day. The new schedule came out. Why, what's up?"

"Well. Here's the other thing. Charlotte, you probably had a hint of this which is a huge part of why I'm not going to keep this a secret. The rent checks were being made out to me." There was a collective inhale and silence as Charlotte just nodded and kept looking at her plate. "Grandma Swan paid for the house in full and did the renovations but then had all the rent checks put into an account with both her name and mine. Taxes were paid for out of the account every year as were any repairs and general upkeep but it's been a good house." I wasn't going to tell them about just how much had been invested and the insurance policies. I didn't want anybody treating me any differently. That didn't need to be out there yet. Maybe someday.

"Bells, what does this have to do with me being off work tomorrow?" Rose asked "Did you want me to help you take stuff over and start cleaning stuff out?"

"Well no. Actually, I wanted to use you for your car expertise. I've been lusting after this car for a while and did a little research today. There's 1 dealership in the area that has the package I want but the only model I've ridden in was about 8 yrs old so I wanted you to go with me and use your fantastic car head to make sure I 'kick the tires' appropriately." Rose's lips curled up in an evil grin.

"And what vehicle might you be lusting for my dear?" her eyebrow perked as she narrowed her eyes at me.

"Well. Do you want me to tell you the specs, the name of the car or just show you?"

"Ooh, good question. Hmm… How about you tell me the specs and let's see how up I am on cars at the moment." This was going to be good.

"K. It comes in a manual or automatic transmission, though I'm looking at the manual." Her ear perked. "V6, 261hp, 16" wheels" And she was now grinning, probably narrowing things down. "Skid plates on the lower radiator, oil pan, fuel tank and 4x4 transfer case. Oh yeah, it's 4WD."

"OK, I've got a fairly good idea. Have you look at ratings?"

"How's CR for you?"

"Lay it on me"

"Only SUV rated for off-roading" Rose threw her head back to cackle and Emmett screamed "NO!!!"

"AWW, Em, what's wrong? Don't Want's Bella's truck to wipe the floor with yours?"

"That is so NOT OK. This is not fair. Bella, how could you?"

"Well, I took up backpacking and hiking when I was up in Washington and we've got the Appalachian Trail not all that far. I'd love to get out there sometimes and enjoy. Plus, the Adirondacks aren't all that far if I want to go on a longer trip. This thing can take me there and get me in and out with much trouble. I'm not going to go rock crawling or anything, but I wanna be able to go in and out of hiking areas without getting too stuck. I'll even let you come if you want Em. You guys too." And winked at everybody.

"Bells, you bet your ass I'm going with you. We're gonna get you the best deal ever. You said you called the dealership already?"

"Yeah, they've got it held for me. I talked to them right before everybody got here. It's the off-road version. It's the only one with all the skid-plates. It happens to be one of the colors I was interested in too so I was fairly excited. They open at 9, I was figuring we could get some breakfast and plan on being there around 10. Does that work for you?"

"You bet your pasty-white ass it does!"

"Hey now that the car talk is over, can we PLEASE talk about the decorating?!?!?" Everybody turned to Alice and we all started laughing at the same time. "WHAT???" She demanded.

"Alright Alice, How about tomorrow when you get off work we'll head over to the house and you can take a look and we can start making plans. Does that sound reasonable?"

"Yes!!! But, If you get to the house before I get out of work, can you take pictures and email them to me so I can begin my vision before I get there?"

"Sigh, alright. IF I get back there before you get off work. No guarantees. Got it?" She nodded.

All of the sudden I hear the 'Little Fuge' playing on what sounded like a cell phone. Granted it was a cell phone with pretty good sound quality, but still. Jasper got up and pulled out his cell and walked into the living room.

"Hey Man, you OK…" I looked up questioningly. Alice turned to me.

"That's Edward's ring." Ahh. The elusive Ed-meister. I just kept on eating. I had a lot of catching up to do if I was gonna get and of the ice-cream sundaes. Everybody else was almost done. Alice started talking about the various furniture stores we could go to and asking Charlotte how she had her place decorated at the moment. I was just eating my last bite of lasagna when Jasper came back in.

"Edward sends his apologies. He passed out after his shift and slept through his alarms and his phone too. He woke up long enough to hit the head and noticed he had missed calls and what time it was so wanted to let us know he wasn't dead, at least in the physical sense. He was actually looking forward to Lasagna Night. He's heard a lot about it. He sounded bummed."

I looked up at Rose and she nodded, almost imperceptibly.

"Speaking of Lasagna night, Rose and I were talking earlier. We kinda had a thought and wanted to run it by you guys." They all turned to look at the two of us. "I know most of you have experienced my cooking" They nodded enthusiastically. "Well Rose has expressed an interest in broadening her culinary skills and I know I wouldn't mind having a standing date to have the whole gang together. I know we've already got volleyball twice a week so I'm not sure if we could do weekly or every other week or what. But I'd be happy to offer up my house for a location for gathering or we could rotate if there's an interest. If not, Rose and I can work on our kitchen creations ourselves."

"Hold it, you are NOT going to make perfectly good food and waste it. Even if it's seasoned strangely it's only going to get better and better. I'm all for it. Even if it's every night of the freaking week!" Squealed Emmett.

"OK, I don't wanna eat burnt crap, but as long as we're all eating together, I'm game for a once a week kinda deal." Jasper lit up with the opportunity.

I looked over at Rose. She was gonna get her chance. "OK, all in favor of a weekly "family meal" with all of us?" All hands when up except Charlotte. All eyes went to her. Alice spoke up this time.

"So what part are you opposed to, the weekly part, the Rose getting all the lessons and not us part?"

"I, um, I just… um… I didn't think I was supposed to vote." She said in a very small voice.

Jasper was sitting directly across from her. He moved the candle that was between them. "Charlotte honey, look at me." She looked up slowly from her hands to meet his eyes. "There's something you need to know about us. Those of us sitting here at this table, we're a family. We're a chosen family. Some of us don't have blood ties left, some are far away and some of us wish we didn't. No matter what our kin situations are though, for each and every one of us, the others sitting at this table are our brothers/sisters/best friends. By being brought to a Lasagna Night, you've been adopted. If we didn't make that clear to you before, we're sorry." Heads were nodding and Rose and I, who were both sitting closest to Charlotte, were both squeezing her arm to show her we agreed with everything Jasper said. Tears were starting to well up behind her lashes threatening to fall. "You have every right to vote when you're sitting at a table with us. You got that sister?" She nodded.

"In that case, I'm all for it." I smiled.

"Alright, then the next decisions for us to make are when and where. Any ideas?" Rose jumped in here.

"I've been thinking about this since we were talking earlier. I think then where should rotate for now. More than likely it'll end up being either our house or Bella's because of the teaching. But at the same time sometimes it might be more convenient to do it somewhere else. For now, maybe we should pick one place for the first week and alternate so nobody feels to put upon. As far as when, I was thinking either Friday or Saturday night so we can have wine or drinks and not worry about work as much. Granted some of us will have weekend shifts but it won't be as many of us or as often."

We looked around, everybody was nodding. "OK, so final call?"

"Friday nights" Voted Alice. "Something to look forward to"

"Agreed"

"Ditto"

"Sounds good"

"I'm in"

"I like it"

"OK, sounds like we're good. Rose, Em, can we do it at your house this week since I'm not sure yet how stocked the kitchen of the house is and I want to make sure I've got everything before we start at my place?" They nodded. Awesome. "Anybody up for ice cream sundaes?"

"YES!!!" came a huge echo. Alice and I went into the kitchen to get all the supplies while Emmett, Jasper, Rose and Charlotte cleared away dinner and packaged up leftovers. I had a good feeling about this. Family Dinner Night was going to be a good thing. I just knew it.

**EPOV **(that morning)

"Edward! Hey man, you almost done up here?"

"Hey Jacks, yeah, I've just got a couple more charts to finish up and then I can head out."

"Awesome" I finished up the last couple charts. Lucky it wasn't anything big, a couple broken bones easily set and casted and then went into the lounge to find Jacks.

"Hey, you ready? This is the perfect time of day to get in some court time. Most people work your typical 9-5's downtown so the court's free till the lunch-time pick-up. If we've still got steam left we can play in that."

"Sounds good. You gonna change or head over in scrubs?"

"Scrubs. A bunch of us have memberships there. It's really not abnormal to see a handful of people going over before or after shift. Luckily they've got decent shower facilities. Did you bring a lock?"

"Nah, I couldn't remember my combo, you said they sold them at the desk right?" I nodded. "I'll just get one when I sign up."

"K, Tell them you already had the tour, I'll show you around as we go. They take too long and tell you all about the stuff you don't really need to know about. If we really need to know, Em used to work there. He knows or knows who to ask."

"Sounds good, you ready?"

"Let's go."

We headed over to the gym. Jackson had been looking for a new gym for a little while and just asked me about two weeks ago if I had a gym I liked. I'd been going to my Y for years now. Emmett used to work there. That's where he met Rose. I think the whole gang were members now. The only thing that annoyed me was the potential member tours. I figured that instead of showing people every nook and cranny in the first 45 minutes they walked in and then saying 'bye' we'd just go in and do what we wanted to do and then as their needs broadened, I'd show the guys more. It worked when Jasper joined years back and one of the guys in my class a few years back, so I figured I'd try it now. If Jacks didn't like it he could go up and ask for a real tour. No biggie.

Jackson and I had had a long week, mostly just because we were both working labor and delivery. I was only up there for my more high risk cases but this was his rotation. And Jackson was good at what he does. Where I was an ER resident so I still had time to spend learning all the other departments sometimes free to spread my wings, all dependent on the case, Jacks was one of the younger OB/GYN attendings here at the hospital. He only had a couple interns at the moment so he was pretty good about letting Bannon know if he had a case I might be able to sit in on. He said he was all for giving me an idea of what it might end up being like if somebody just showed up in the ER. I was grateful for another set of hands in my corner. Not everybody was so excited about the couple of us splitting our current rotations.

We walked the few blocks to the gym and walked up to the desk. My favorite morning guy was there. He gave extra towels to some of us. I gave my customary head nod and introduced Jacks.

"Hey Joe, This bum works with me over at the hospital. Jackson this is Joe, Joe, Jackson. We were hoping you could sign him up with the streamline application." He smirked.

"Yeah man, I can take care of that. Did you fill him in on the prices and facilities and whatnot?"

"I've been looking online, this blockhead's gonna show me the ropes. But I've popped out something like 800 babies in the last 36 hours and just need to work out some of the kinks on the court." Says Jacks as he pulls out his ID and CC for drafts before Joe even asked.

"You did prep him pretty well it seems." He pulls out the application and hands Jackson a pen which he promptly begins to use. Not even 5 minutes later Jackson had his card, a new lock which Joe helped cut open and we were off to change and grab part of the court.

We played one-on-one for a while before a few other guys from the hospital got off shift and asked to join. Then the regular lunch-time crew started shifting in. Some of them were just retired guys who were still really active, some of these guys were students at the med school or dental school and some probably had desk jobs and took longer lunches to be able to come out and play. I really didn't care. I just needed to blow off some steam after a long day. Work some kinks out of some muscles and exhaust myself to the point of sleep.

I knew if I went home and passed out after this, I could get a good 5 or 6 hours before I headed over to Em and Rose's for Lasagna Night. I've periodically heard stories about Bella's cooking and apparently tonight she was making one of her more famous recipes and filling everybody in on the place she'd found.

::grumble grumble:: OK, it seems my tummy's thinking about that lasagna too.

"Hey Jacks, I've gotta call 'game'. I've gotta grab some food and pass out. I've got somewhere to be later tonight."

"Sure, no problem. My stomach's been yelling at me for the last 20 minutes anyway. Let's head over to Ray's when we pick up the cars."

"That, my friend, is the best idea you've ever had." Ray's is a little sandwich shop a block or so over from the hospital. They're really only open for lunch and they really only make sandwiches. The kind your mom used to make you when you were kid. But they're ridiculously fresh and there's something about eating a sandwich out of parchment paper with a bag of chips and a can of soda that just makes everything seem a lot better.

We showered and changed, waved bye to Joe and headed out. We had about 3 blocks to get to Ray's. We ordered and had our sandwiches and headed out back towards the cars. The one downside to Ray's was there weren't any tables or benches anywhere. You had to find your own place to eat. But the sandwiches just made you feel like home. We found a bench close to the new high rise apartment buildings and ate while talking about how things had been going in his life. He'd been dating this psycho chick Maria Santiago for the last few months and he'd broken things off with her but she just wouldn't leave him alone. Super Stalker Extraordinaire. Apparently, she went so far as to tell the hospital she was his fiancé, buy her own ring and come in with a picnic lunch for our dear Jackson. She was constantly calling in asking to speak to her lover/boyfriend/fiancé/soon-to-be-husband. She was certifiable, and freaking out most of the staff. She'd tracked down his home address and started dropping off letters. So far she hadn't tried to break in but she'd parked her car down the street and watched him come and go. He'd reported it to the officials but they couldn't do a whole lot with the stalking charges alone. She was basically on their "we're gonna watch her" list, if there even really was such a thing. She hasn't been around the last couple weeks though, which was good. He was hoping she'd stay away. Maybe she'd found someone else to harass or gotten help. One can hope, right?

We both finished up and headed back to pick up our cars.

"Alright man, I'll see ya in a couple days I guess. Have a good day." I waved and unlocked my car as he kept up the street to his. Luckily it wasn't late enough for the 3 o'clock rush hour. With as many hospitals and factories around we had 3 rush hours a day and I wasn't there yet. Some days I love my schedule. It only took me a few minutes to get home. Since I'd just taken a shower, I just locked the door, threw my keys on the bowl next to the door and headed back to the bedroom. I kicked off my shoes at the end of the bed and sprawled out right across the bed. So glad I upgraded to a King. I'm pretty sure my eyes were closed before I even hit the mattress. Then again, I don't remember.

---

I woke up with my eyes glued shut with sleep and the urgent need to pee like I hadn't visited a bathroom in days. I rolled over only to back and that at least relieved the immediate need, but damned if I didn't have to get out of bed. It was dark now so I'd been in bed for a while. Shit, what time was it? Pee first, time later. I headed to the head and took care of business. Longest piss of my life. I headed back out and looked at the clock. 8:47. Shit, I slept though my alarm and Lasagna night was already in progress. The red light on my phone was blinking next to my alarm so I grabbed it and dialed into voicemail.

"Voicemail left at 7:45pm." "Edward man, where are you? We're all here and Em and Rose's. Bells made Lasagna and garlic bread and shit man it smells good. Dude, I hope you didn't get called back into work. I'm hoping you're on the way dude. Just gimme a call when you get close."

Shit, I've gotta call him back. I dialed his number.

"Hey Man, you OK? I was startin' to worry about you. Did you get called back to work?"

"No, I got off work this morning, played some basketball at the gym then passed out. I slept through you calling and the alarm. I musta been a little more out of it than I thought. I'm guessing I've missed Lasagna Night?"

"We're just about done with dinner then at some point we're gonna have dessert. I'm sure you can come over for that if you're up for it. We've still gotta fill you in on all of Bella's house stuff too."

"Don't worry about it, I'm not up all the way really. I still have to go back to work in the morning. I'll just grab something and head back to bed. Tell everybody I'm sorry. I'll see you later."

"Alright. Have a good night. We'll see you Thursday right?"

"Yep, I'll be there."

"Have a good night"

I hung up and threw the phone on the other side on the bed. Debated getting something to eat but realized sleep was calling my name a little louder so I reset the alarm and rolled back over.

---

BPOV

I woke up with the sun coming in my window. My alarm hadn't gone off yet so I figured I was just antsy. I looked over and yup, it was about 7:30. Rose and I still wanted to go get breakfast somewhere, probably at IHOP or something so I figured I'd just make coffee and get in the shower. I rolled out of bed and padded into the kitchen to set up the coffee maker. Hit start and headed into the bathroom. Nothing wrong with multi-tasking right? I turned on the nozzle to hot and made sure the sprayer was spraying hard. I thought it helped get all that shampoo out of my hair, not to mention it helped relax my muscles.

The dealership was holding the car for me. For the next couple days which was great. I told them I'd more than likely be there sometime today to check it out though. I was really really excited. I figured I'd call Charlie and have him send me my backpacking gear. I didn't have a ton of it, but it was packed into a tub back home. All dad would have to do is get a big box and ship it to me. When I got out of the shower I'd call Charlie and ask him to send the stuff to me the next chance he got. The biggest problem he'd have is finding my tent poles. I stored them extended so I wouldn't wear out of the elastic bands in the middle. I was pretty sure where to tell him to look, but I wasn't sure. I finished up and toweled off. When I opened the door I could smell the coffee and that in and of itself was like taking a sip. I hurried into the guest room to change so I could go make myself a cup. I put on my jeans, a sweater and boots. Combed out my hair and headed down to the kitchen. On my way down I grabbed my cell and dialed Charlie's cell.

"Hey Bells, What're you doing up? Everything OK?"

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could do me a favor. You know that bin of backpacking stuff I've got in the mudroom?"

"Yeah, that clear bin with the white lid right?"

"That's the one. I was wondering if you could get a big box and ship me the things inside. You don't have to send the bin, I can get a new one. The only things that're not in the bin are my tent poles. Those are leaning up against the wall I think, probably in the mud room, maybe in my closet. You can just fold it down and ship it with everything else."

"Sure Bells, planning a trip?"

"Not yet. I decided to get a car. The one I'm getting will let me go up to the AT or some of the closer hiking trails pretty easily. I was figuring if I had all my gear I'd be a little more likely to actually go."

"Sounds like a plan. I'll get it out by the end of the week. I'm thinking Millie down at the post office will have a box big enough to get everything off to you. I'm guessing you want it sent to the house?"

"Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks."

"Sure thing. I love you sweetie. I'll talk to you later."

"I love you too Charlie."

I hung up and took a sip of the coffee I'd just poured and prepared just in time for Rose to come tromping down the stairs.

"What the hell are you doing up and is that fresh coffee?"

"I just woke up so I decided to get ready, and yes it is." I grabbed a mug and poured my dear friend her much needed first cup of fuel for the day.

"I see you're already showered for the day. That leaves my turn." I nodded. "Where are we going for breakfast?"

"I figured IHOP, unless you had something else in mind."

"No that works. Lemme finish my coffee then I'll get ready. Have you told anybody else exactly what vehicle you're going to get?"

"No. I actually haven't said the name of the make or model out loud for anybody. Em's upset cause it's capable of off-roading and I figured you'd know based on what I told you last night." I looked up at her questioningly and she nodded. "I didn't see the reason to let everybody else know before I brought it home. I didn't want to get into an argument over what car I should or should get. I've thought about the different features I want and this has it all. What was the tag line I read? 'Everything you need, nothing you don't'. I agree. I wanted you along to make sure I don't get weaseled but I'm pretty set."

"It's a good car. I have a friend who's got one and loves it. By the way, were you on the phone when I came down?"

"Yeah, I was calling Charlie and asking him to send my backpacking gear. I figure I might actually get to use it if I've got it."

"Not a bad idea. Maybe we can all go on a mini-vacation. K, I'm off for some waking up by water torture. I'll be out in a few. Did you get the address to the dealership for the GPS?" I nodded.

"OK, see you in a bit" And I sat down with one of my favorite books to finish my second cup of coffee and wait for my dear Rose to get ready. This was going to be an interesting day.

**AN: Feedback is welcome**


	8. Stop

**AN: SM owns everything Twilight**

**Chapter 8: Stop**

**BPOV**

4 hours after arriving on the lot and Rose and I were both driving off, in separate vehicles. I now have my 2010 Xterra in blue. I'd thought ahead and brought a couple of my favorite CDs so before we got out of the parking lot I had Kings of Leon, Breaking Benjamin and Theory of a Deadman playing on random. I'd have to make an iPod list later. I'd also have to name my guy here. Nothing had come to mind yet. I'm not an idiot. I realize cars have traditionally been named after women, and out of all my cars. Most of mine had as well. Just this one and my last one were male to me. I can't describe it. It's kinda like this thing I have about assigning people colors. And it's not an aura. There are only two colors and there's absolutely no meaning attached to it. People are just red or yellow to me. But that's a whole different story. We headed home and just kept going till we pulled right on in the driveway. We put the cars in park and walked up to the house.

"Hey Bella, you hungry?"

"Actually I'm not, You?" She shook her head.

"I was thinking we could get your stuff together and head over to the house. Take pictures for Alice. She's still got a couple hours till her shift gets off and she wanted to come over and start thinking about redecorating. You up for it?"

"Yeah, lets hit up the grocery store first for some of the basics though. I know nobody's been living in the 1st floor for a while so I'm assuming they cleared everything out. I'm guessing we'll get thirsty later at least."

"OK, sounds good."

We opted to just take my car. We loaded my couple of suitcases up and headed to the grocery store. A few bags of essentials later we were driving to the new house with butterflies in the pit of my stomach.

"Rose, In the last 48 hours I've gone from living like a college student to owning my own and being a landlord to also buying a new car. I feel like a whole new woman."

"Bella hun, things are changing for you. You spent a lot of time caring for your mother. It's what you were trained to do, and I'm sure it's what you wanted to do, but you left the place you were building a home to go back to the place you grew up. You went back to sleeping in the bed you slept in when you had pigtails. Now you're back here. You've got a brand new job, new house, and a new car. You've got your old friends but I hope that's not a bad thing." She smiled at me while I shook my head adamantly. "Things are going to be different and strange. You're going to need time to adjust. But, I have absolutely no fears that you'll be OK. We're all here for you. Now let's go get these groceries in the house, along with your bags, take these pictures and take inventory." I nodded and wiped a tear from my cheek.

We decided food was first priority, then suitcases. So we made our two trips and I pulled out my iPhone to start taking pictures. I decided to just start with the main floor for now. That'd be enough to start the pixie's brain till she got there.

As we looked around the furniture was actually not bad. It was all in good shape. A few pieces weren't my style but things were sturdy and classic without being antique. Not too little log cabin-esk and not too modern. The walls were all the beige-y color though so I was thinking repainting was in the works. And there were area rugs everywhere. I could hardly see the hard wood. When we pulled back the edges of a couple we could tell it was in gorgeous condition. I checked out the bedrooms. They were all furnished with double beds. Fairly plain frames, a dresser and sidetables. The master bedroom was large enough to have a bigger bed so I was thinking of replacing it with a queen, maybe even king. I wasn't sure if we'd have to replace just the bed or replace the whole suite. It wasn't bad, just really plain. And being the kitchen snob that I am, I had to go check out the stocking of the kitchen. Turns out the cupboards were practically bare. I pulled out my phone and started making a list of all the things I was going to need: placesettings, mixers, utensils, knives, cutting boards, pots, pans, strainers, the works. I was going to have to go to a kitchen supply store pronto. This would not last long for me at all.

"Um Rose, I've got a problem in here."

Just as Rose rounded the corner my phone chirped.

_Excellent canvas. Some of the furniture not bad. Very close to your style. We'll need some accent pieces, wall art and definitely fresh coats of paint. I'm thinking a fall palate: burnt orange, moss green, rust. –A_

"What'd Alice say, and I see your problem. Kitchen's bare. Not just food I see."

"No, I need everything from glasses, plates, and utensils to pots and pans. I have nothing in here. I'm outfitting a kitchen from scratch. We've got a few hours till Alice gets off, you up for a little kitchen shopping?"

"Can we consider this Lesson #1?"

"Most definitely" We locked up and virtually skipped to the car.

I knew I needed a restaurant supply place for a large chunk of what I was going to buy, the pots, pans, and bakeware. But the plates and bowls could be up for grabs. I decided to try the restaurant supply place first. I'd looked it up last night just in case so I knew where it was. And even went so far as to input the address into the GPS just in case. So I pulled it up and we took off.

We arrive and I was in hog heaven. I grabbed a cart and we started from one side of the store and just went up and down the industrial-like aisle. Rose asked questions about a ton of the stuff in there and I just answered what I could. I got a new set of pots and pans of course, including a wok. An array of bakeware for cookies etc., a grill set, a fantastic wine opener, an array of knives. Steak knives and cooking knives. I couldn't forget a shopping block and cutting boards. Oh and then surprisingly they had a large supply of plates, bowls, utensils and glassware. You could buy it in any quantity. It was excellent quality stuff. Rose and I spent a lot of time picking out patterns for everything until we were satisfied. I decided on purchasing enough to have settings for 20. Our little family wasn't huge but who knew if I'd want to have a larger dinner party or who might end up moving into the other unit. I ended up needing a second cart with everything that I got. I was glad Rose came with me. I started to think about what appliances I had and what I really needed to get right away. A hand chopper always came in handy. And a mixer was something that didn't come out often but was pretty handy to have. Coffee maker was a must, maybe I'd even go espresso maker. Wait…

"Rose, did the kitchen have a microwave?" I stared just waiting for the answer. She tilted her head to the side in thought.

"Um, you know I don't remember seeing one. Did you take pictures of the kitchen?" I hadn't but I had gotten pictures of it over the island when I took pictures of the living room. I pulled out my phone and scrolled through the pictures. No microwave.

"OK then, microwave, coffee or espresso machine, mixer and handheld chopper then I think we're done."

"Bella, do you have room for this stuff anywhere?"

"The seats fold down in the car. Which we'll need to do cause they'll have to box the place-settings and the glassware. But then I'll make room in the kitchen. I'm pretty sure I do."

"OK, I vote for the espresso machine by the way."

"Well here's the catch, I don't know how to use one so we've either gotta have somebody show me how to use it or it's gotta have some really good directions." Rose threw back her head and laughed a belly laugh like I haven't heard in a long time.

"Come on, let's go look." We headed to the appliances on the back wall. I grabbed the mixer and hand chopper first. They were easy. Not many brands to trust. The microwave was a little harder. I wanted standard wattage but a sleek design. Most of the stainless steel designs were too big or too powerful but I did have a couple options. Once that was taken care of it was onto the coffee makers or espresso machines. We decided to start with espresso machines and use regular coffee makers as a back-up. After narrowing it down to a couple since we didn't want the restaurant monstrosities. We were trying to figure out by the descriptions on the box which one might be the simplest too use. That and taking educated guesses based on the pictures. We'd finally picked one when an employee walked up and asked if he could help us.

"I think we've got it. We were trying to figure out which of these espresso machines would be the easiest to use since we really don't know how to use it."

"Lemme ask you, you said you don't know how to use an Espresso machine right?" We nodded in agreement. "OK, do you just like the little shots of espresso or do you also like drinking lattes and such?"

"Lattes are one of my favorite drinks." I admitted.

"OK, then you're going to want one with a steamer unless you want to get a handheld steamer. And since you're buying a new coffee maker anyway, I don't see why. Also, do you want one that also makes regular coffee for those times when you just want a normal average everyday cup of coffee?"

"Oh, I hadn't even thought of that."

"Most people don't. I made the mistake of upgrading to an espresso machine and thinking I was moving up in the world. But then there are some mornings I wake up and just want my cup of joe. Or when my grandmother comes to visit and she doesn't understand espresso."

"Hmm, you've got good points there buddy. Do you have any suggestions?" he pulled one off the shelf and traded me for the one I had in my hands.

"Now the easiest thing to do when learning how to make espresso is remember this. Grind the beans. Loosly fill the filter, level it off, tamp it down, attach it to the machine and go. If you want to do latte's there are directions for steaming the milk after in the box that are really easy to follow. I'm assuming you know how to make a decent cup of coffee?" I nodded. "Alright then, did you need anything else?" he asked looking at my carts.

"No, thank God. I'm done, finally. I just moved into my new place with absolutely no kitchen supplies as you can tell."

"And I thought you were opening a small café. Alright, let's go ring you up." We walked up front and he called in another employee to start packaging the dishware and glassware. We had a flatbed trolly full when we left so I had Rose go flatten the seats of my car and we started loading. We had just enough room. We were about a mile away from the house when my phone started to ring the Peter Pan theme song. I tossed it to Rose.

"Talk to the bouncing pixie please. We're almost there after all."

"Hey Al, We're about a mile away. We went to get the car and got a few groceries but the kitchen had nothing so we went to get kitchenware at the restaurant supply store. You're just in time to help us unload." I'm pretty sure Alice was making comments about how the plates had better match her overall design of the house, "Yeah yeah, just wait Al. We're around the corner. See you in a min."

And in less than a minute I was pulling up in the driveway behind the house. Alice was waiting for us already.

"Holy shitake mushroom, what the fuck did you buy?"

"Well, plates, bowls, utensils, glassware, a few small appliances, knives, butcher block, the usual stuff really." Alice rolled her eyes of course and just started grabbing bags. We all made it in but the second Alice dropped her first load she was roaming around taking an inventory. Rose and I just kept going back and forth. On our 3rd load, Charlotte got home and started helping.

"Thanks Charlotte. I realized today that the kitchen had absolutely nothing in it and that just wasn't going to work for me so I had to take care of things."

"So I see. If this is now you take care of your kitchen, I just might be down at your place more often." She winked at me.

"You're more than welcome to come down whenever."

We took the last couple loads in and Charlotte headed up to change and said she'd be back down in a bit. Alice had out a notebook and was taking down all sorts of notes about what she wanted to do. I found the box with glasses and took out four and started to wash them. Luckily I'd had the foresight to get dish detergent at the grocery earlier (and toilet paper, never move into a new place without bringing toilet paper). I handed Rose the first glass and she went to get herself a glass of something from the fridge. After I'd washed the rest I asked Al what she wanted and she wait water so water she got. I poured her some from the new Brita and headed in and took a seat at the coffee table she was taking notes and sketching at.

"So Al, you've got some ideas I see."

"Yeah, I told you about paint, did that sound OK to you?" I nodded I had actually always wanted something like those colors. "Most of these area rugs'll have to go after we repaint but that won't be a bad thing. A few will still work though. A good chunk of the furniture works well with the colors as well as your style, just a few pieces need to be replaced. And obviously we need to get you a TV and entertainment system. I looked at the bedrooms. How do you feel about those?"

"I'll obviously want the master, I'm thinking of swapping out the bed for something larger, definitely at least a queen, I'm not sure about a king or not. I wasn't sure if I'd need to switch out the whole suite or not though. Right now it's pretty plain."

"Oh I'm so glad you think so. I've got a few places in mind where we can probably get some of the shopping done for the bedroom furniture and accessories. Paint is easy. We'll just have to all chip in unless you want to hire somebody to do it."

"It'll give me something to do in the next couple weeks. I've got the rest of the week and the weekend before I have to worry about work, and even then, I can probably at least get a wall a night by myself."

We ordered food and spent the rest of the night creating a game plan for the house. Charlotte had joined us and told us that she was game for a fresh coat of paint in her place as well but she'd rather hire people to do it. Alice even explored the 2nd floor and the basement. 2nd floor wasn't top of the priority list at all and the basement was actually in pretty good condition. It was sparingly furnished. I figured all of the stuff we were getting rid of from my part of the house could go down there. Maybe the guys could help us get that down there. Or maybe I'd just hire movers. That would probably be the better idea. Around 10 Jasper and Emmett both started calling the girls wondering where their lovely girlfriends were. I drove Rose back and Alice said she'd make a trip to look get paint supplies before her shift and would probably check out bedroom furniture after her shift. I thanked her and we all headed in opposite directions. Rose said she'd try and get Em to come over after work and help me paint. I was all for all the extra help I could get of course.

"Rose, I'm all for everything you guys want to give me, but please don't feel like you're obligated to do anything."

"Bells, I'll be here. The only reason I know of for Em to not be here is if he's already got other plans." We pulled up in front of the house and Rose slid out.

"Nice ride Bella-Boo. I wanna ride in this baby soon. Don't you forget it."

"I won't Em. Have a good night you two. See you later" I started to drive off when my phone chirped.

_Will be by around 9 w/ paint supplies and color coded plan. Make your painting playlist tonight J, Em, R and I'll be by as soon as we're off work. Be ready. Char's welcome. ~A_

OK, I guess tomorrow I'd get started moving furniture and rolling up rugs and such. I did want to get my bedroom done early so I'd start there. The guest room could get painted last so I could stay there while my room was drying. I dropped my suitcases off in the guestroom and started moving the furniture toward the center of the room. It'd be better for the stuff to get taken downstairs but I couldn't do it on my own and I needed to be able to get to the molding so I could tape stuff off tomorrow. Once I had the bedroom furniture moved around, I headed into the living room and started moving furniture. I was really glad no one was in the basement just yet. I was making quite the racket. I was pretty sure Charlotte couldn't hear me since she was 2 floors up but I wanted to get everything done now just in case. Speaking of Charlotte. I wrote her a quick note about what was going to be going on over the next few days. I explained that I'd be painting and such just about the whole time and everybody else would be coming and going as time and inclination permitted and she was more than welcome to come join the party to converse or to paint herself. I decided to finish up with the last of the furniture, leaving the couch and living room chairs accessible then headed into the dining room to grab the new coffee maker/espresso machine. I figured I'd want some coffee in the morning. I set it on the island and decided to head to bed. I figured there was a good chance I wouldn't want to get up in the morning at this rate. I also made sure my phone was on loud. I stripped down to t-shirt and the boyshorts I was wearing and pulled back the blankets. The last thing I remember was checking to make sure the alarm was set.

---

I heard the ridiculous blaring of my alarm at 8:40. I rolled over to slap the off button and my phone started ringing. Alice.

"Hello"

"Wake up hun, I'm on my way to your place and I've got a ton of stuff for you. I've got all the paint and primer, brushes and rollers and mixing sticks and painting tarps, oh and painting tape. That's your job for today, got it? Tape off the windows and molding so we can get started on cutting in all the trim. When you finish with the tape, lay down the tarps and make sure any cracks or holes are puttied. I didn't really see any so I think we should be pretty good there. Then you can start priming the walls. When you get to that point I'd open the windows if I were you."

"Ali, you need to get off the phone with me right now, let me finish walking to the kitchen to make my coffee and let you in. We will go from there."

"Gotcha, no coffee yet. I'll be there in a few minutes."

I found pants and I headed toward the kitchen to push start on the coffee maker (pretty damn happy I thought to set it up ahead of time), and not even a minute after I poured my cup there was an excited knock at the door. We got everything in and she really wasn't kidding. There must have been 8-10 brushes of various sizes. A dozen rollers and a long handle for that, along with all the paint and other accessories. I lost count of how many trips to the car it took.

We stood in the middle of the living room and she put her little hands on her hips.

"Well you got the furniture moved. I was thinking we'd start in your bedroom so we could get that decorated first. Do you think Eli would have any movers who might be available today to come take care of that?"

"I'm not sure, I'll check though."

"OK, so here's your tape. Primer's in the big cans. Have at it sister. We'll all be back later tonight." And with that, she was gone.

It was 5 till 9. I figured it was a bit early to call Eli so I started in with the tape. I figured I'd get my bedroom taped then start in on the larger spaces.

When I was done, I looked up at the clock on the oven and it was 10:40. Eli should be in, so I grabbed my phone.

"Hello Bella. To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Hello Eli. I was hoping you might know some people who might be able to come in and move some furniture today. My friends are helping me paint and I'm getting a new bedroom suite so I figured I'd move the one in my room down to the basement apartment. I obviously need a little help with that."

"Hmm… I think I can arrange that. You need it today you said? Are you going to be there all day?"

"I am. I'm painting the first floor. Or at least I'm starting."

"Bella, with this new development, the furniture that is, I'd like to bring someone by today. He's actually an old family friend. I'll do the background checks and whatnot that I typically do anyway, but he was looking for something fairly fast and somewhat furnished. The basement unit didn't have a bedroom suite until you just mentioned this move. Would it be too fast to have someone move into that unit already?"

"No, that'd be fine. You have keys and whatnot. I'll have friends here for a little painting party throughout the day so be forewarned about that."

"Sure, I'll call you back as soon as I arrange the movers and I'll very possibly be bringing by a potential tenant later today as well."

"Sounds good, have a good one."

We hung up and I went to laying down tarps. I'd looked and didn't see any holes to patch as I was taping. There wasn't any wall art up so I'm guessing the walls had been redone a neutral color after the last tenant had left and holes patched then. Not even 10 minutes after hanging up my phone rang again. It was Eli.

"Good morning again Bella, the movers will be there sometime before noon. They're one of the local teams of the Gentle Giants. I use them periodically. Very good and very friendly. Just show then what pieces need to be moved to where. They'll take as long as they need to to make sure walls and furniture don't get marred up."

"Excellent, Thanks Eli."

"Sure thing. I'll be bringing by the potential tenant this afternoon. He's got a couple loose ends to take care of before we go looking. Is that alright with you? I know if won't be too late, he'd got to work a bit later tonight."

"Yeah, it's not a problem at all. Out of curiosity, actually I'm not even sure if you can tell me this, but what does he do if he's going to work later?" Eli laughed.

"Normally I wouldn't tell you, but he's a good friend and you guys have a little something in common. He's a Dr. He actually works at the hospital you're starting at next week. I'll let him explain the circumstances of his situation to you though."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you later."

Hmm… well that had me thinking. Why would this guy need quick housing and why would Eli be helping him? He's better not be cheating on his wife or dealing drugs or anything. I guess I'd just have to wait to find out.

I got into cutting in with the primer in the bedroom first and then the living room. Soon enough there was a knock at the door. Two giants in tight green t-shirts and track pants. I showed them the furniture and the back staircase to the basement room it was all to go. I signed the paperwork for them to send me the bill and went back to painting while they worked. An hour later they were done and I tipped them as they went on their way out. I heard Charlotte drive in the back parking spot so I headed back to say hi. She had armfuls of shopping bags. Apparently she'd had a half-day so she'd done a ton of errands and gone grocery shopping. I helped her take stuff up. She said she'd gotten my not and was super excited to come help. She hadn't painted in a while, but used to love to paint her parents house back when they were still around. On our third trip down to grab stuff we saw a couple of guys rifling through the bags in her trunk and in the front seat checking through the consoles. My first thought was 'Thank god she took her purse in already', Charlotte on the other hand had a different idea. She bolted towards the car yelling obscenities at the guys. I reached for my phone only to realize I left it on the island in the kitchen. I didn't know if I should help try and scare them away or try and reign in Charlotte. I was scared shitless. The guy at the trunk took off running as soon as Charlotte hit the back gate, the one in the front seat didn't go anywhere. He'd already grabbed her GPS and was trying to rip out the stereo. Did he seriously think he had enough time to do that before someone would come out? In broad daylight? My feet were walking towards them not knowing what to do but to be witness. I tried to take in as much about his physical appearance as possible. White, about 5'11", sandy blond hair, ear level. Dark eyes, but I couldn't tell what color. He was slim build but muscular, broad shoulders. He was wearing a small earring in his left ear. I couldn't see the right. Eyebrow ring. No visible tattoos but he was wearing a green hoodie and dark jeans. Just as I was looking down at his shoes all hell broke loose. Charlotte reached the piece of shit, but he wasn't giving up.

"Get out of my car you shit-head!" She'd picked up what looked to be a baseball bat on her way to the car, I didn't even see that. Shit! She was running right at him.

"Stupid cunt! Get out of my fucking face bitch!"

Charlotte swung the bat around just as the thief reached up to grab the bat from her. He had a good hold of it but she wasn't letting go. He had one hand on the bat and another was still in the car. I frantically looked around for something to help me. Everything seemed to go in slow motion. I had nothing within arms reach but a brick. God help me this wasn't going to end well. I grabbed it and started towards the struggling pair. All of the sudden everything happened at once. The thief had wrenched the stereo out in one great tub and shot it right at Charlottes face. She turned. I lifted my arms that held the brick trying to figure out how to aim the damn thing without hurting her too. There were screeching tires, someone yelled 'Bella, No!' and footsteps came pounding towards us. In the shock of hearing my name I dropped the brick early landing on the thief's foot, at the same time that I felt arms grabbing me and realized Eli was grabbing both me and a now definitely injured Charlotte and pulling us away while another man punched the ass-hole in the face knocking him cold.

Fork's ER was small-town traumas. I hadn't been in a medical emergency quite like this before. Well, nothing from the start with danger still present. It added a whole new aspect to things. It was Nurse Bella time. I was thankful the world was still moving slowly for me. A whole new kind of adrenaline rush. Eli had Charlotte on the ground and was holding her head where she was obviously bleeding. I took a quick look around and only really saw the 1 large laceration. A few small abrasions but nothing we needed to worry about right now. The big thing was the bleeding gash that Eli was holding and a possible concussion.

"Bella, I've got a first aid kit in the trunk of my car. The truck latch is in the glove box. I'll hold her head. I'll have Peter call 911 to pick up these guys and then the two of you can decide if Charlotte needs to ride in by ambulance or not." I nodded and ran over to his car.

I found a few zip ties in the trunk too.

"Eli, do you need these zip-ties at all?"

"Good thinking Bella, bring those over. Toss em to Peter when you get over here."

I ran back, threw the ties to the new guy and kneeled down next to Charlotte. I looked up at her as I opened up the kit. She was not fully alert but not passed out. I was definitely thinking concussion.

"Charlotte, honey. I need you to stay awake. Eli and I are going to keep talking to you. I need you to talk. Don't fall asleep on me." Eli nodded. I reached down to grab a pair of gloves and take inventory of what supplies I had. It wasn't a suture kit, that's for sure but it had the basics we'd need to staunch the bleeding till we could get to the hospital.

"Char, does anything hurt besides your head?" I asked as I reached up to start checking the wound under Eli's hand.

"Um, my arms. Sore muscles and something kinda like pulling. My shoulder is pretty bad. The head hurts the worst though. Bella, I really don't like hospitals and I hate ambulances even more. Can you fix me here?"

"I'll see what I can do hun, but you're head's bleeding quite a lot. There's a pretty good chance you're going to need stitches and that's something I can't do here. I'll be with you the whole time, K?"

"Just don't leave me."

"Promise."

I placed gauze under Eli's hand and gave him a glove to use for later.

"Keep pressure on this Eli. Charlotte, I'm gonna take a look real quick but I'm pretty sure you're going to need to go into the hospital for stitches." I had Eli lift and sure enough the gash was about 3" long. The stitches weren't going to be fun and neither would keeping it clean later. Charlotte had long wavy auburn hair. Washing hair with stitches was a pain. "Alright Char. There's no question, we're going to need to go get stitches. Remember what I said though, I'm not leaving you. I'll see if I can get Eli to drive us to the hospital then I'll get one of the gang to come get us later."

We could hear the sirens coming closer. I looked over my shoulder and the new guy, Peter, I think Eli said was standing watch over the now zip-tied assailant. He was looking over at us anxiously, but I could tell he didn't want to leave the shit-head unattended.

"Charlotte, where on your arms does it hurt?" I was feeling up and down looking for breaks in the skin, I didn't see any so no visible compound fractures. That was a good thing.

"My shoulder is really starting to ache. It feels weak. And my wrists."

"OK honey, can you make fists for me?" She did, the right was especially weak but she did. "OK, can you lift your arms for me?" She did alright with her left but her right was like a limp noodle. But the shoulder wasn't dislocated.

"It's Peter, right?" He nodded. "Did Eli tell me you were a Doctor?"

"Yeah, OB/GYN. Not really gonna help all that much here. I'm guessing you're a nurse from the looks of things?"

"Yeah, ER. I start at NEMC on Monday. Here's the thing Peter. I've got a head laceration that needs stitches and a possible rotator cuff. I'm assuming you did an ortho rotation?"

"Yeah, and I've been helping a friend study during some down time."

"Alright, Eli, I'll take over pressure on her head, go switch with Peter, I need a second opinion. If it's a minor dislocation I'd rather get it fixed sooner rather than later." I took over for Eli and the guys switched off.

"Hey Charlotte, tell me about where you grew up." I needed to keep her talking. Peter kneeled down and started checking out her right shoulder making sure the socket was good and noting the weaknesses and range of motion.

"I grew up all over the place. We moved around a lot. My dad changed jobs or got shifted within the company every few years." She stopped to wince now and then. This was a big ow. "I spent about 3 years in each city." This wasn't exactly the best topic for her but I needed something to keep her going.

"I think you're right… um…"

"Bella" Just then the cops pulled up. Eli explained everything that he and Peter and seen and one of the officers came over to talk to us. He asked if we wanted an ambulance.

"No, He's a doctor. I'm a nurse. She's got a head laceration, probable concussion and a shoulder injury. But we'll drive her there ourselves so we can keep anxiety levels down. We can get you copies of reports from there. Did you need anything from me before we leave?" Peter was talking to Charlotte keeping her entertained as well as alert.

"Just an account of what happened from before."

"Since I'm the one holding the head, do you mind if we do this after we get to the hospital."

"Not at all Ma'am."

"It's Bella, please."

"Hey Eli, do you mind driving us down to the hospital. Char's not too keen on Ambulances. Peter, you're welcome to join us." He chuckled.

"Like I'd leave you to the wolves." Peter and Charlotte were still at it, Geez I almost felt like an intruder.

"Alright, Eli can you grab Char's purse from her place and my phone, keys and wallet from the island in mine and lock up so we can take off. I'd help but I'm a little busy."

"Sure thing Bella, Can you two get you and her into the car? I'll be back in a min." Peter nodded to me

It was interesting getting both of us up. Peter actually had to pull us both up. Charlotte helped a little with her good arm and I just kept holding onto her head. We piled into the back seat and Eli came out right about the same time that the three of us were getting into the car. Eli ran over to Charlotte's car, closed all the doors and locked the car before coming back over to us. It was only then I realized the odd angle he'd ended up parking at and just how crazy the last hour had been.

"So Peter, I'm guessing you'd be the old family friend that Eli was going to bring over to look at the unit?" he chuckled.

"Yeah, that would be me."

"I'm sorry we never even got as far as the back gate in terms of a tour. I'd love to say that things like this don't happen much but I just moved in myself. Charlotte's been here a bit longer than I have. What do you say Eli, how's the crime rate?" I wasn't trying to be bitchy, but my adrenaline was still pumping and I was nervous about going back and we were two women in a big house all by ourselves.

"Bella I just don't know what to say. Trust me when I say this is not the norm. As soon as we know Charlotte is OK we'll take measures to make sure you girls are safer. I'd talked to your grandmother many times about putting in an alarm system but with the set-up it was difficult. I think it's no longer a question of want. It's need. We'll get a contractor and security company out first thing in the morning to help us design and install a system. We may very well put in some other features as well. I won't be able to live with myself until I can say without fear that you girls are safer.

And Peter, As soon as Charlotte is taken care of, I'll take you around to some other places. I know your timeframe is pretty small."

"We can talk about that later Eli. What's important right now is getting Charlotte stitched up and getting her an Orthopedic consult." I had the pressure pretty well controlled with one hand so I grabbed my cell and called to leave a message for Rose and Alice. I didn't know how long this was going to be but I was doubting I was going to be done by the time they were ready to come over. Plus we were going to need a ride and one of them should be working.

We got through triage pretty quick. It doesn't hurt to have an open head wound or a doctor who works there walk you in. Eli stayed out in the waiting room and said he'd wait for us but was going to make a few calls.

Peter pulled a few strings and got started on the suture kit himself and went ahead to call for an ortho consult. I helped prep and we actually worked pretty well together. One of the ER nurses walked in when we were just about done and started throwing a hissy fit.

"Excuse me. Who the hell do you think you are? How did you get ahold of a suture kit and why are you touching a patient? You'd better stop what you're doing right now before security gets down here." And Peter stopped briefly and turned.

"Christina, right? I'm Dr. Jackson, from Maternity. I'm not on the schedule at the moment. I happen to be with my friends here and there was an incident. Bella and I started stitching because Charlotte here has already had a hell of a day, hates hospitals and there was no reason not to. Bella here is under my watchful eye, though she'll be one of the new ER nurses in this very department come Monday. We've logged everything on the sheet per protocol, I'm assuming it's no different here than Maternity. Ortho's already been called for a consult so Dr. Stall should be down here shortly, she was curious why I'd be calling her down to ER on my day off. Is there anything else you'd like to yell at me about before I continue to stitch up my patient? Oh, Bella, can you grab my wallet out of my left pocket, my hospital ID is right behind my license."

I pulled off one of my gloves and very carefully reached into his ass picket as he half stood up. I flipped it open and grabbed the ID to show Christina. He was who he said he was. She stomped out in a huff. I'm sure Monday was going to go wonderfully for me.

"Bella, don't worry. I'll talk to the Charge nurse as well as the ER Attendings. I don't want you penalized for being here and helping out today. You're technically not on staff yet, but you'd done most of this prior to getting here. I'm signing off on everything and just asking you to hand me things. We're not doing anything that would get you in trouble. I'll take any flack for this. I promise."

"Thanks, how you holdin up over there Char?"

"I've had better, I've had worse. I'm guessing I'll live, right Doc?"

"Ha, yeah, you'll live sweetheart. The stitches will be a royal pain but you'll be in one piece again when I'm done with you. Stall'll take a look at that shoulder too. That'll take a little longer to heal. You ladies wanna fill me in on what happened before we got there though?" Charlotte took a deep breath and started.

"I'd gone to do some errands today. I had a half day. I wanted to get back to help Bella paint. So I pulled in and she came out to help me unload the bags of groceries and stuff. We came out to get another load and these two thugs were going through my car."

"Wait there was another one?" We both nodded.

"As soon as I saw them I started running and grabbed the baseball bad the kids who lived here before left. The one that was going through the trunk took off running but the other one, the one you saw stuck around. I didn't think he'd stick around. I thought he'd just take off. He's just a kid. But he turned and fought me. I guess you saw the rest. He threw something at me and I don't really remember much of the rest. It all happened so fast after that." It was my turn to fill in the blanks.

"I saw Charlotte run after them, and I tried to get her to stop but it was like I couldn't move. I didn't understand what to do. I finally realized I had to do something and tried to call for help but my phone was inside so I grabbed the brick cause it was the only thing around I could see. I reached up with it just as you guys drove up. Eli called my name and it scared me so I jumped and dropped it."

"Probably breaking his foot by the way. He was yelling assault."

"The little shit."

"Yeah. Anyway. Charlotte, has anything like this ever happened around the neighborhood before? Any random kids hanging around, vandalism, theft?"

"Not that I know of."

"Hmm… Bella, I agree with Eli. I think a security system would be a really wise decision. Especially with it being the two of you in the house. No matter who else may or may not end up in the house it's never a bad thing for a little extra protection, something besides a baseball bat. And Bella, if you don't mind, I'd really like to come back over to take a look at the apt. Eli was telling me about how your grandmother had restored it and broken the levels into apartments. I understand that it's the basement unit but the back of it actually has windows because its cut into the hill, is that right?" I nodded.

"I'd love it if you wanted to come look at the place, but don't feel like you have to. I can't speak for Charlotte, but I don't want anyone to feel like they have to play bodyguard."

"Please don't misunderstand."He said as he finished the last stitch and we cleaned up. "Charlotte, this is for your ears too. I don't want to look at the apartment with the intention of potentially taking on the role of protector. I'm coming at it from a slightly different angle. I believe Eli said something about letting me tell you my story. My situation is this. Within the last year, I got into a very brief relationship with a woman whom I later found out was not well in the head to put it lightly. She's portrayed herself to be a very important part of my life and gone so far as to call herself my fiancé and buy herself a ring. For quite some time I've been aware she'd known where I lived and had parked on my street periodically. At the time, the police were unable to do anything because she hadn't broken any laws. She was ridiculously creepy, but had done nothing illegal. Yesterday, I came home from my shift and some time and the gym only to find out that she had broken into my home and was now living out the fantasy of being my wife and sleeping in my bed 'waiting for me'. I spent the better part of yesterday with the police and getting her processed and into a mental health treatment program, involuntarily committed. When I got home last night, it was too strange. My privacy had been violated. My home was no longer my home. I spent last night sleeping on the couch and called Eli very early this morning to help me start looking for new places. I'm not ready to purchase a new house yet so I wanted something a little more temporary. Knowing the connection you have with Eli and the story of the house and having been through everything we've all been through today, if you'd allow me and be comfortable, I'd like to come see the apt at some point."

Charlotte and I looked at each other and she looked at me as if to say it was completely up to me. Traitor. I'm so not used to making big decisions on my own yet. I'm obviously getting there, but not there yet.

"I think we can arrange that. You still might not like it. But I have no problems with you coming to look at it. If you'd like, we're going back after this is done and may we ordering food depending on how Charlotte's head is, we might even still be painting."

"Excellent. Thank you."


	9. New

**AN: I don't own the characters. I'm just taking them out to play. **

Chapter 9 – New

BPOV

Rose and Alice walked up to Eli just as we walked out of the exam room. Charlotte was weak on her feet but OK so she walked arm and arm with me and Peter was only slightly behind us. I could see the relief in Rose's eyes. Alice was surprisingly calm considering her hyper personality most of the time but she was taking it all in. Alice was first to speak up while Rose reached out to hug Charlotte and pushed back some hair to try and get a better look at the gash in her head. Charlotte briefly winced and tried to rearrange the sling we'd just put on her. Luckily it was her left arm so she'd still be able to do much of her normal daily activities.

"So the message said you were here in the hospital but ultimately everybody was OK. Somebody want to tell us what's going on cause this doesn't entirely look OK?" Alice turned to the guys, "By the way, I'm Alice and this is Rose" She shook hands with both Eli and Peter.

"I'm Eli, we spoke briefly on the phone some time ago. And this is my friend Peter." Handshakes all around this time.

I gave a quick synopsis really just letting them know about the theft and altercation that was interrupted when Eli and Peter came to see the apartment. I suggested we wait to give all the details until we had the whole gang together so we didn't have to rehash the story too much since we were going to have to do the same for the cops soon anyway. Everyone Nodded.

"How about we hit up the grocery store to get some Ben and Jerry's, Call to order Pizza and maybe we'll pick up some alcohol for after the paint party. You guys up for it? Charlotte'll have to take it easy with the meds we just gave her but we should keep an eye on her to begin with"

"That sounds amazing. Can we get out of here?" Charlotte piped up. I turned to Peter.

"Peter, you're more than welcome to join us. And you're not required to paint at all, just come and enjoy the company. We can show you the place if you'd like, or we can take a raincheck on that part. Whatever you'd prefer."

"I'd love to come over tonight if everybody's alright with that, I don't want to impose." The girls all nodded their heads in agreement. "Alright, and I'll even help you paint. If we get around to it you can show me the apartment, if not, no worries. I left my car at the Real Estate office thought so how about I have Eli take me back there to grab it then I'll head over. I can hit up the liquor store on my way if you guys make the grocery run, I figure we can order the pizza when we get there. Sound alright?"

"It's a great plan. You know where the house is?" Peter nodded. Eli looked very anxious and used this opportunity to jump into the conversation.

"Bella, I hope you don't feel like I'm stepping on your toes but I made some calls to a security company while you guys were back there after talking to the officers. I know the house isn't really my responsibility anymore, but I made a promise to your grandmother that I'd help look out for the house and the residents and I'm having a hard time letting go of that now that you've come back into the picture. Anyway, I've worked with this company before and if you're OK with it, they can be out tomorrow morning to look around and start the installation. I spoke with the owner of the company about the design of the house with various units and he gave me many ideas of what could be done You'll obviously have final say on how much gets installed but there are at least a couple things I think you should definitely get. Alarm system for each unit as well as the stairwell. Cameras and security lights for the back parking area and a camera for the front porch, alarms on all the entrances, doors and windows for starters." I nodded but tears were definitely forming in my eyes. I knew we should probably get something. It's not that the house was in a bad neighborhood. Just that the world was crazy.

It was starting to hit me. All of it. It'd been a long day. Being faced with slime-ball perps is not the way I want to spend another day of my life. The adrenaline had run its course and I was not running on empty. Food/ice cream was going to be an absolute must here really soon.

"Hey now Bells, I'll be off tomorrow and I can definitely be there to be another set of eyes and ears while everything is going on. I know it's all overwhelming but this is a good idea." Rose gave me a big hug and kissed my hair.

"Let's get this show on the road."Of course the Pixie was excited to head out.

We split up and hit the road. Rose and Alice had carpooled today so we jumped in the car and drifted toward the grocery store which yielded quite the variety of Ben and Jerry's. We figured we knew what everybody but Peter wanted on their pizza and between all of us we pretty much had everything covered so unless he was allergic to cheese or tomatoes or something he'd be alright. So we called from the grocery store and figured that'd be a good way to tame the wild beasts that would arrive and resided in our tummies currently. Rose texted Em and asked him to bring some extra paint clothes in case Peter did want to join in the fun. I felt bad we really hadn't filled in the guys yet but Alice said she made it clear in her message to them earlier that everybody was OK. We'd deal with it when everybody was together.

The four of us girls got to the house first, stashing the ice cream and changed into our paint-clothes. Time for priming the walls. Once we got going I realize I'd gotten through a lot more priming than I originally thought and the bedroom area. Surprisingly the bathroom and bedroom were fully primed. I really must have gotten in the zone before Charlotte got home earlier. Just when we get in the groove, there's a knock at the door. Alice jumps up with more energy than a bottle rocket and it was Peter, bearing gifts of the alcoholic persuasion. The drink of the gods.

"Hey Peter, Come on in. We've got the fumes up and running and the food's on the way."Alice grabbed one of the bags from his hands and they walked towards the kitchen.

"There're a couple of reds and couple of whites as well as some beers. I figured we could use an assortment after today." Our token male stowed the beer and whites in the fridge. "Mind pointing me toward the restroom so I can get these paint clothes on and I can start giving you a hand? I'm guessing from the looks the plan is to prime until food is here and we tell the story then we'll have to head to the police station?" He asked looking at Charlotte and me.

"Peter, you know you don't have to do that, right?" I threw the yet naked roller up in the air toward Rose and stepped toward the red wine and pulled down glasses for all.

Peter headed to the hallway bathroom, duffel in hand. There's a another quick knock on the door, and Rose headed to answer it this time. Surprisingly enough, Jasper was at the door and not pizza.

"Jazz!!!" The Pixie squealed as she leaped into his arms. "What're you doing here so early?"

"Well, I heard my lovely lady and all of our girls were ordering pizza and having a little party involving some color. I decided to chaperone. We don't want you girls getting in trouble now do we?" Alice giggled and Rose and I just Rolled our eyes.

"Jazzy, do you want something to drink? Peter brought wine and beer."

"Who the hell is Peter?" Jazz's eyes went wide and he almost dropped Alice.

Charlotte's the one to speak up this time, though it's obviously still a quiet voice. "Peter is the guy Eli was going to show the downstairs apt to when shit hit the fan earlier. He and Eli were our white knights." Jazz nods his head as he took it all in setting Alice's feet to the ground, though not letting her go until he kisses her forehead. She waltzes to the kitchen to get Jazz's beer. Peter comes out from the hall in full paint clothes and introduces himself to Jazz.

"So when do we get to rehash the day's events?" Jasper inquires. Looking quite pensive yet keeping calm very well.

"I was thinking we'd wait until everybody was here and then Charlotte and Peter and I would only have to do this once. It's bad enough we're going to have to go down to the police station later and do this all over again." Jazz nods and heads in to change as well.

Alice puts Rose, Peter and I to work instantly priming the walls with her. Charlotte gets to sit on the couch and order us around as well as play ipod DJ. She even takes requests. When Jazz comes back out he picks up a roller next to the current keeper-of-the-crap, Charlotte, kisses her on the head whispering something in her ear, winks and Alice making her giggle and comes over to roll an off-white masterpiece next to me.

"So level with me Bells. You two OK?" never once looking up from the area zone between the wall and the paint pan.

"Yes and No. It could have been so much worse Jazz, but we're alive, not physically violated and really just scared. Charlotte definitely got the worse of it. And I found out it was hard treating a friend in the hospital. We'll probably be skittish for quite a while, but really, I just keep telling myself it could have been so much worse." He nods and tightens his lips and eyebrows. It wasn't the answer he wanted nor was it the one he feared. We all had a lot to think about.

"I'm going to throw this out there. Think about it and get back to me. Depending on how things go tonight and how you both react I may not give you a choice but if you want someone else to stay here for a while, Alice and I can easily just stay here. I know you weren't planning on using the 2nd floor yet, but I think we might want to consider the use of extra bedrooms since your spare is being utilized during painting."

"I'll think about it. Eli made arrangements for a security company he's worked with the come out and install a pretty comprehensive system tomorrow. I can't even begin to tell you what having you guys as friends and here right now is doing for the whole situation. If we were alone right now I don't think we'd be this OK, but we've got you guys." I looked over at Charlotte and she was helping Alice organize the paint cans and supplies in the middle of the room.

"Alight, but I want you to promise that you'll tell one of us if you need something, anything. Deal?" He grabbed my chin and made me look at him.

"Deal" I nodded. Just then there was a loud bang and we all jumped, some of us more than others. Jasper pulled me into a big hug as we looked to the front door where Em had kicked the door all the way open with our 4 large pizzas in hand. I turned to Charlotte right away. Alice had her hand on Char's good arm and Charlotte was holding her chest trying to calm herself down. Rose was the quickest to act and I have to say I can't remember the last time I saw her go streaking across the room so fast. She punched him repeatedly in the arm hard enough that our pizzas were almost toasty warm new area rugs. But Rose anticipated that and grabbed for them just about the same time she left Em a wonderful new bruise. The threat with a primed paint roller wasn't anything to scoff at either. Though, knowing Em, he may have liked that.

"What was that for?" he shrieked.

"You fucking idiot. After the day we've had around here you come barreling in here like the troll from under the bridge wanting toll for passage. You expect us not to want to kill whoever came in here trampling around like a rabid elephant??? Take a look around ass-wipe." She took the pizzas into the kitchen and Em looked around still somewhat shell shocked. I just stared at him wide-eyed. I'm sure Charlotte was doing the same, but his eyes made contact with mine first.

"Oh Shit, Bells, I wasn't thinking." He slowly came toward me with his big blue eyes wider and more fearful than I'd ever seen them. And then I realized why I probably looked so scared. Not only did Jazz have me wrapped up in his arms but he'd positioned himself between me and the door and I distinctly remember trying to hide my grin in his chest when Rose went to beat the shit out of his arm. "I was so anxious to get in here and make sure you guys were OK, I thought everything was OK. I mean that's what the message said. So I paid the delivery guy when I met him outside and just wanted to come make sure you guys were alright for myself. Now I've gone and fucked that to shit. Please don't be afraid of me. I'll do anything you want me to do. Just please don't be mad or upset. I'll dance around to Disney songs in an apron, feather boa and a speedo if it would make you laugh right now." Now that made me chuckle. And apparently I wasn't the only one. A stifled laugh came from Alice and Charlotte's direction. He looked over his shoulder at Charlotte and his eyes went even softer, probably at the sight of her sling and head wound.

"Em, I forgive you, I'm just a little jumpy is all. I think at least a couple of us are." At that Jazz rubbed my arm more and pulled me a bit closer. Damn I had great friends.

"But you shouldn't be jumpy at all, especially not from something I've done. Rose is right, I'm an idiot and whatever else you or anyone else wants to call me. Please don't be nervous around me. I promise to tiptoe." Like that would help. Words weren't working, so I reached up to give him a hug and kissed his cheek. He sighed and stepped back then turned to Charlotte. "Double shit." Peter was now on one knee behind Charlotte. Alice was still holding her good arm and Peter had leaned in whispering to her until that moment. Charlotte and Peter both looked up at Em as he crossed the room and sat cross-legged in front of her. "Charlotte, I'm so very super sorry. You OK?" She took a breath and nodded. "Everything I said to Bella goes double for you. I know you really don't know me but I'm really not scary at all to the people I love. I know I look big and scary, and yes I'm big, but I'm a cuddler. I swear."

"I believe you Emmett. I'm with Bella on this one. I'm just a bit jumpy. I'll be OK, we both will. How about we dig into that pizza before it gets cold and we can all grab a drink." Charlotte looked around to make sure she wasn't saying anything she shouldn't have.

I nodded. Rose let us know the pizzas were already laid out with the paper plates and Alice started filling drink orders. Jazz and Alice cleaned up the brushes and rollers. And as we stood up Em grabbed Charlotte in a giant bear hug, being careful not to jostle her arm, and whispered something into her ear until she relaxed. Peter visibly stiffened and just walked into the kitchen not looking back at them. I left Em and Charlotte to their moment knowing full well Em was OK with Charlotte yet still really worried about us. He's obviously already adopted Char as a new younger sister. I had a feeling he was letting her know as much. He and I had a situation similar to this one years ago (without the scary back ally attackers, but still). I grabbed a plate and walked over next to Peter who was seemingly trying to decide between pizzas but looking way too intently. I put my hand on his shoulder and leaned in, "Good thing for all of us that the big oaf's found the one woman on the face of this planet that can keep him in line and calm him down when he gets riled up or we'd all be screwed." Peter looked up at me quickly and narrowed his eyes. "Em and Rose have been together for years. They're getting married in a few months. You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Em is a huge big brother of a teddy bear in a giant package. My guess is that he's giving Charlotte the 'I'm your big brother now, so it's my job to kill anyone who hurts you' speech. He's almost as worried about us as you are. And FYI, Jazz is right there with Em he just doesn't show it so outwardly. This little bunch is pretty tight and they've already accepted Charlotte. You're actions today has basically solidified your spot there too, not to mention your feelings for her." At that, Peter stopped breathing and his eyes went wider.

"Don't worry Peter, I'm not going to say anything and I'm going to stay out of it. I just wanted you to know Em's not the competition." He nodded, closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Thanks Bella" We both reached for slices of pizza and headed out into the living room. After everybody had food and drink and we were settled around the room Em spoke up again.

"At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot above and beyond what I've already done today… What the FUCK happened today? And before you begin, I got a text while I was at work today from Alice, I'm guessing the same one Jazz got?" Alice nodded "and maybe Edward?" Alice shook her head. Em looked confused. "OK, well I got the text message that said some shit when down at the house and that Bella and Charlotte were apparently at the hospital with Eli and someone else. Everybody was OK, but liquor/pizza were a must and you guys were going to have to go to the police station while we were painting tonight." We all nodded. "OK, now 2 questions. 1) Please elaborate on what happened because at first I thought there'd just been an accident involving a sprained ankle or something THEN I see the part about the cops and obviously that's not it. Not to mention that now I see the shape Charlotte's in it's definitely not 'nothing' and 2) Why didn't we tell Edward? I realize he's been working but he's really out of the loop on everything now." He looked between all the girls and Peter but Alice spoke up.

"Since I sent out the text I'll explain why I didn't send it to Edward then I'll let these 3 explain what happened since we're all a bit anxious to hear the whole story, Even Rose and I only know the overview. I thought about sending the text to Edward but he's been working a lot lately and if you recall he hasn't even met Bella or Charlotte yet. I thought it would have confused the shit out of him to get that message. I figured that the next time we saw him we could give him the run down on what's been going on, but for him to get a random message about the girls being at the hospital wouldn't have made much sense." Alice explained.

"Good point. We should see him tomorrow so we can explain everything then." Em reminded everyone. "So the story if you please."

"Hey Char, you or me first?"

"I'll go. I think it'll make more sense that way. You jump in where you did in the alley though, then Peter can jump in where he and Eli came in. Oh wait. Em, this is Peter. He was coming to see the unit downstairs with Eli when everything happened." The guys shook hands in the typical manly way that they tend to then we dove into the story.

Alice was doing a good job of calming Jazz down but he was pretty pissed if I knew his body language at all. Em on the other hand was getting obviously agitated. By the time we got to the middle of the story Rose wasn't able to keep him sitting on the couch anymore and he was pacing.

"OK, the one that got away, tell me what the Fucktard looked like. What was he wearing. I know a lot of guys out there from when I was working in Chinatown. I'll get info on every shithead in town and they won't EVER bother you girls again."

"Em, we've gotta do this the right way. The three of us need to head down to the police station and file a report. Eli talked to the police while we were stitching up Charlotte but they need our stories too. Plus remember, the guys zip-tied one up. Maybe he gave up his buddy. Either way, they've got him on assault. If you wanna use your connections to help find the other guy, you have to do it the right way and work with the cops. That's the only way." He sighed and plopped on the couch next to Rose. "Alright, OK. I just can't stand anybody hurting my girls. I don't like it. I want these guys put away or deported to Pluto. Or maybe Mars, that's the one that's all fiery, right?" He was looking around at us seriously wanting an answer. Charlotte chuckled at him and this actually snapped him out of his little tirade.

"Bella, Charlotte… We should probably head down to the station to get our statements out of the way and get back here so we can get these walls painted. I get the feeling Alice is a bit of a slave driver and we want to be the relief team ASAP." It was Rose that burst out laughing as Alice placed her hands on her little hips, stamped that little foot as she shifted her weight scowling indignantly.

"How dare you!" she narrowed those hazel slits even further.

"Baby, don't be mad. Just because he pegged you right on the nose." Jazz kissed her temple and wound his arms around her, probably both to attempt to calm her and to save Peter's ass if she decided to pounce. Jazz winked and told us to scoot. We didn't hesitate. As we walked out to the cars, Peter asked if he could see the basement apt when we got back.

"Sure. Oh, and Peter?"

"Yeah"

"You've been accepted. You got Rose to belly laugh and Alice stamped her foot at you. You're so in." He and Charlotte grinned wide and we took off toward downtown. Once we got there, Peter parked and got out. Charlotte and I took a deep breath and got out. I grabbed her hand and we walked toward the entrance. Peter glanced at us warily over his shoulder as we got close to the door. He opened it and let us go through. I squeezed Char's hand and she squeezed back. Holding tight. Peter put a hand on Char's arm and stopped.

"You OK?" he asked. Bending his knees to look right into her eyes. She nodded her head slowly.

"Yeah, I will be. I think I just need one of you with me as much as possible. I don't know why I went after him but now I don't want to be anywhere near the ass. I'm realizing what an idiot I am. He could have had a knife or gun or something. I just… I mean… reality is starting to set in."

"Charlotte, look at me." She lifted her head to look into his eyes. "Bella and I are both here for you. So are all of your friends back at the house. If you don't want to be alone you won't be. If you want some time all on your own, you'll get that. If you want to take a vacation, you'll get that. If you want to take boxing lessons so you can beat the shit out of something, you'll get that. Right now, all you have to do is tell me exactly what you want or just take it for that matter and you'll get it. Do you understand what I'm saying Charlotte?" Tears were silently streaming down her cheeks. Peter wiped the tears away with his thumbs and I was feeling like an intruder more than I felt like I should be there for the task at hand or for moral support. Then Charlotte let go of my hand and reached to put her arm around Peter's neck.

"Thank you. You've been amazing Peter. And to think that, what was it, 8 hours ago you didn't know us?" She laughed and stepped back placing a small kiss on his cheek. I was really trying to step back and not be in the way. So intrusive. She took a deep breath and kept hold on Peter's hand but looked awkwardly like she wanted to reach out for mine. I reached out to touch the sling ever so lightly. She smiled at me.

"OK, let's go. I'd like to get this over with." So we walked up the stairs to the reception desk and Peter asked for the officer who'd given us his card earlier today. The officer at the desk asked us to take a seat on the benches and someone would be out in a few minutes. So we sat and waited.

About 6 minutes later a police officer we hadn't seen yet came over and raised his eyebrows as he verified who we were.

"Ms. Swan, Ms. Harris and Mr. Jackson?" We all nodded, Peter reached out his free right hand. "I'm Officer Davis. The officers you worked with earlier today went off shift. They've briefed me on what happened and I've got everything ready to take your statements. If you'd walk with me, we'll head back and get started." We began to follow him still hand in hand. "Given the slightly unorthodox way in which the perpetrator was detained, it won't be necessary to do a line up at this time, though if we're able to bring the other kid into custody, we'll need to do one at that time." Char tensed a bit but remained fairly calm. I squeezed her hand and she gave a stiff smile.

We got to a conference room and he brought us in telling us to take a seat. He asked if we'd like water and excused himself for just a minute. He came back with the water and another officer. He introduced the man as one of their trainees.

"We'd like to start off by having each one of you write down what happened from your point of view. Please keep it to what you saw, heard and did. That can include what you saw someone else do or say, but not what someone else was trying to do or want to get across, etc. Try to keep it to the facts." After you write everything down, we'll go through things verbally with a tape recorder. Mr. Denali was here earlier and gave us his statement and we've got preliminary charges outlined for the kid who was handed over to us in zip-ties. I haven't had that happen on my watch by the way. Interesting twist. Anyway, let's get started." He handed us each what looked to be a bluebook, yes, like college blue book. The trainee stayed but Officer Davis excused himself.

We all took a pen that had been provided and wrote the stories down. When we were done we each closed the book and set the pens down. The trainee asked us to sign and date each page. He collected all three statements and stepped out. A couple minutes later he and Officer Davis returned with the statements and sat down across from us.

"Alright. I've read through these and they jive with what we knew already. Ladies, you've filled us in quite a bit on what happened prior to the gentleman arriving. Let's begin going through the events verbally and we'll discuss the process from there." He turned the tape recorder on and we proceeded to do virtually the same thing we did with Alice, Rose, Jazz and Em earlier today. We were getting better at is and little bits were seemingly coming to the surface about the description of the 1st guy.

"OK, based on all the information we've got. We have enough to charge the one we've got in custody with attempted robbery, vandalism and assault. Given the injuries I don't see those going anywhere. Not to mention there are a so many witnesses and he was restrained at the scene. Also, Ms. Swan, I can't speak for a judge, but I very much doubt that IF this kid decides to try and file counter assault charges on you for the brick that you'd be charged. I would plan on a court date. As soon as we've got the charges booked officially and it processed into the court system, we'll let you 4 know so you can be present. If you have any questions or if anything else happens at the residence, please give me a call here." He said as he gave us each his card.

"We'd like to take pictures of Ms. Harris' injuries before you leave." She nodded and the trainee slipped out of the room. "I have to say, everyone was a bit lucky. We didn't want to tell you this until we got statements, but the kid we brought in was under the influence." Charlotte gasped and I help my breath. "It's a new street drug that doesn't cause a lot of the same symptoms that current drugs do. Behavior is pretty erratic with violent tendencies, but no sweating, pupils don't dilate, and no jitters. It's almost like Roid-Rage and a high without the muscles."

"Shit, he was stoned?" I gasped "Fuck!! Please excuse my language. I'm a little, I guess, shocked at the moment." Officer Davis just laughed.

"No worries. And yes, he was stoned."

"Officer, what does this do for the case against him?" Peter asked. I hadn't even considered the case. I was only thinking that if violent tendencies were increased we could have been killed. HOLY SHIT!!!

"Actually it will probably strengthens it. Increases the profile for illegal activities. Not to mention if we can trace some of the drugs through him, we'll be much happier down here at the station." Just then our trainee walked back in with a camera in hand. They went ahead and took pictures of Charlotte's laceration with Peter helping to pull back her hair to avoid any uncomfortable poking and prodding. They also took pictures of her shoulder. He had to take off the button-up to get pictures of the swelling and bruising that was beginning.

"Can you do us a favor and if any other bruising shows up, please take digital pictures." We nodded.

"We'll get copies of the medical record sent after she's seen the specialist again. Based on the swelling, she's going to have to wait about 2 weeks for a full evaluation." Peter interjected.

"Please send the information along as soon as you have it. It will add to the case as well. You ladies were lucky the first kid ran and this kid wasn't all that big and that your gentleman friends showed up. I'm very happy this didn't turn out any worse than it did but I have to ask you ladies to avoid confrontations like this in the future." We nodded earnestly.

"We will be avoiding messes like this to the best of our abilities in the future. Have no fear. An alarm system is being installed at the house tomorrow as well." I informed in.

"Good. You can never be too careful. I would look into one for your cars as well." Office Davis shook our hands. "Thank you all for your cooperation. If anything else comes up, we'll be in touch." And he showed us the way out.

On the way out to the car, I noticed Charlotte had silent tears streaming from her eyes again. I reached for her hand and she pulled me closer grabbing my arm for dear life. We walked to the car cheek to cheek and arms entangled. When we got there, Peter already had the door opened for us and we just both slid in the same door still tangled together. We let go long enough to put our seat belts on and then Charlotte reached out for me again. I kissed her hair and told her to just let it go. Peter drove us back all the while checking in through the mirror to make sure we were still OK. When we were a few blocks from the house. Charlotte dried her eyes and took some deep breaths.

"When we get back, I'm going to head up and help with the painting. You guys go and look at the apartment and come up after you've seen everything. But don't rush because of me. Got it?" She looked pointedly at both of us. Peter looked over his shoulder

"Charlotte, are you sure?" He was almost pleading with his eyes, but she was behind him so she couldn't see that part.

"Yes, I'll go up and join in with the painting and try and relax. Have the drugs from before worn off enough that I can have a glass of wine?" She asked.

"Yeah, you can have a glass. Keep it to one glass till we get up there. Make sure either Bella or I are with you if you want more than 1 glass though. With the blood loss and stress of the day I don't want you to have a reaction."

"OK, now you have to promise you're not going to rush through the apartment just because you're worried about me. I'll have 4 babysitters upstairs and I want you to really take a look at the apartment before you make a decision one way or the other. Deal?" She glared daggers at him. He nodded then she turned to me.

"Now you promise me you'll show him everything. Including the shared space features in the stairwell and outside. Promise me Bella or I'll fuck up your walls on purpose." I grinned and hugged her. "I promise my dear." And just like that we were home. Charlotte took another deep breath and we got out of the car and walked in. Charlotte walked right in and turned.

"You might as well start outside. You're going to lose the light soon."

"OK. We be back…"

"DON'T say 'soon'" she scrunched up her little face like a pouting two year old. "OK OK, see you in a bit" and she turned around in a huff.

I turned to Peter. "I want to say she's not always like that, but I've only known her about a week."

"No worries. It was nice to see her let it all out and then turn around and give it right back to us. She's feisty. I like it. I'm just worried about her, and you really." He looked down at me with soft eyes. "You seem to be handling it a little better though."

"On the outside. I'm still shaken up. Everything happened in slow motion, that's for sure. I was thinking of all the possibilities while it was happening. Drugs didn't enter in my mind. I know how to look for drug use too. He seemed excited, but I equated that to being caught in the act of a theft and not wanting to give up the goods. That scares me. That also makes me really wonder what we're in for in the ER from now on. Not to mention I keep replaying watching Charlotte going to attack the guy and not having anything handy to help. I'm the daughter of a police chief and my self defense is terribly out of date and just so many things went wrong."

"Bella. First of all, you can't control what anybody else does. You chose to help Charlotte instead of leaving her to fend for herself. Definitely lesser of two evils. I thank you for that. I'm even more thankful that we showed up when we did. So we would help get him off, to subdue him. To help staunch the bleeding and get you guys to the ER without too much extra problems. You're handling things like I would expect someone with emergency experience to handle it. Cool on the outside and internally, in a situation where you feel safe, you're not as strong and even possibly ready to break down. Sound about right?"

"Yeah, that's about it. I promise to make it upstairs before I lose it so you won't have to deal with the tears alone." He just laughed and gave me a quick yet warm one arm hug. "You ready to take a look around?"

"Yeah, let's have at it. Outside first." We toured the Shed, porch and fire escape, then headed in and down to take a look at the basement. I hadn't been in since we brought the bedroom suite down but I knew where most everything is. "I'm not going to know quite as many details as Eli would just cause I've only known this place existed a week so if there's something we can't investigate we might need to ask Eli. But that said, all the furniture here is included though you're welcome to bring more. The front side of the apt doesn't have windows, but the backside here is somewhat dug out of the hill with the partial deck above it so you'll get some sun. And the sliding glass is your own entrance, given recent events I would stress that I'd appreciate it if you'd leave it locked when not actively using it." We roamed through to the bedroom, bath and kitchen and looked at all the obvious things.

"Alright Bella, I can't lie." I knew it. It's not all what he wants, everything today was too much. "I love it, the location and the size/layout as well as availability are all exactly what I was looking for. The only question now is if you and Charlotte are going to feel weird about me being here after everything that's happened or if you'll be uncomfortable considering my interest in Charlotte."

"Here's my thing. The only reason I'd feel weird about you being here is you're saying yes because of a Hero Complex. I can't completely speak for Char, but I don't want anyone moving in here because they think we can't do things or need babysitters. If you think you want the apt because of all those reasons then I think we'll be OK."

"OK, Then I'll throw this out. What if we do this on a somewhat temporary basis? What if we have Eli draw up a 6 month contract? If you two or I feel like any of the reasons weren't good ones or that it's not working out for any other reason, I'll move out. We can reevaluate closer to the end of the lease time and see what we want to do either way" It was a good idea. A fair trial.

"OK Deal. We can get things settled with Eli tomorrow I guess" Peter wiped out his cell and started typing furiously.

"We had a chat in the car to let him know if I got around to looking at the apt and he'd plan other apts or the contract for tomorrow morning either way." HAHA. Alright then. So we start heading upstairs and I point out laundry and mail central in the "mud-room. A moment later his phone chirped and I raised my eyebrows. He flips his phone around for me to see.

'Excellent, glad you liked the place, thought you would. Sorry today didn't go smoothly but both girls are wonderful. I'll have paperwork, 6 month lease, and keys ready first thing. See you in AM. E'

"Looks like I'm moving in tomorrow." And he smirked. Smirked! What am I gonna do with this guy.

"HAHA. Dork. Let's go paint."

"Did you know that one of the original definitions of a 'dork' is a penis?" OK, no I didn't.

"Um, No. That was not something I was aware of. That wasn't what I meant."

"Bella, I know you weren't calling me a dick. Just one of those quirky things that fills my head that sometimes spews out for no good reason. I figured we could use a little laugh."

"Thanks, for everything." And we reached the door to my apt as Cyndi Lauper was blasting through the iPod speakers. Peter and I exchanged some curious glances as we stepped through the door. Our eyes were assaulted with Alice and Charlotte dancing in circles barefoot to 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun'. Alice was wielding a paintbrush and glass of wine, Charlotte just had the wine which was almost empty. Then we turned. Em was rockin out. Paint splatters all over his person using the brush as a mic, singing at the top of his lungs. Dancing, or gyrating or jumping or whatever you'd call it. Really I'm not sure. And Emmett McCartney can dance sooo much better than what was on display right now. This was disastrous. Just then I caught Jasper's eyes and the look of sheer desperation was highly amusing. Rose wouldn't tear here eyes from the wall at all. I couldn't suppress the chuckle as Em dove to the floor onto his knees to act out as much emotion as he possibly could, or at least from the looks of it.

The song ended and Em righted himself. He walked over and went back to painting the wall that was now almost finished. I was actually pretty impressed with the progressed they'd made.

Jasper walked over to us and spoke in a hushed voice. "Peter, please tell me you bring more testosterone than this buffoon has. I don't think I can be the only sperm-making entity in the house. Don't leave me alone again until this is over. I swear he's an idiot and if we gave him heels and eyeshadow we could enter him in a drag show. Holy cow." Jasper was almost whining.

"Man, I can try, but have you looked around? We're a bit outnumbered and if this "buffoon" is switching teams I don't know how much good that'll do. Though if the girls are going to keep up like this, I might be OK with them "having a little fun", I'm not opposed to the view." Peter looked over Jasper's shoulder right at Charlotte. At that point I had to elbow him.

And right then, Charlotte tripped and yelped after stepping on a roller and two things happened simultaneously. Emmett turned around and caught her around the waist and Charlotte's glass of wine sloshed out of her hand and she went to try and grab it with both arms effectively wrenching her bad arm and making her cry out both in pain and embarrassment. The wine landed right on the old tan couch. Charlotte was obviously more worked up about the wine despite being in quite a bit of pain. Peter and I ran over to grab Charlotte and check her arm Alice disappeared into the kitchen. Em was beside himself.

"Shit, I tried not to grab her arm. I didn't want her to land on the ground though. Fuck, Charlotte, please tell me you're OK. Did I rip your arm off?" Char shook her head with tears.

"The wine…" she choked out.

"Honey, don't worry your little head about that. Queen Pixie of the Woodland Nymphs has that covered. You just let the medical professionals take care of you right now. You've got 1 doctor, a physical therapist, who's freaking out by the way, and 3 nurses here watching out for you at the moment. I'll take care of the wine." Alice had grabbed a bottle of cheap white from my stash and was currently uncorking it.

"But, I just dumped it out." Alice's finger went up in front of Charlotte.

"Peter, Bella, please take care of our dear friend to make sure she's alright while I get rid of this stain. Charlotte. I promise to get rid of the wine stain, then I'll teach you how to do it."

By this time, Charlotte was sitting in Emmett's lap. We had him turn her and unhooked the sling. Rose pulled her hair up in an elastic band. Between Peter and myself we checked for extra tenderness and potential ripping. It didn't seem like it was any worse than before really just very sore. We grabbed some frozen corn from the freezer and tightened the sling. Em had actually done a really great job of calming Char down and she was brushing the tears from her eyes.

"You alright honey?" I looked right into her eyes. She slowly nodded.

"I'm sorry Bella. I didn't mean to cause trouble or a mess."

"You're absolutely fine. I think Alice got the stain out. It was on the cushion so all we have to do is try it out and clean off the alcohol smell and it's good as new."

"Wait, what do you mean she got it out? Alice, It was RED wine!" she shrieked. Em chucked underneath her.

"I know sweetie. I'm going to teach you a trick I learned from a Greek friend of mine. When you spill Red wine on something, pour white wine right over it. The red just melts away beneath your eyes. With your typical cottons, corduroy and other stuff like that it works wonderfully. I've never had to try it on silk, but it's worth a shot compared to losing a fantastic shirt wouldn't you say?" Char was wide-eyed and in awe.

"If you've got more tips like that I wanna learn em all." We all chuckled. "I'm serious."

"Just stick with us Kid. You'll always be OK. How you feeling?" Alice asked.

"I'm alright. It's just so sore. I should've known it wasn't a good idea to dance around like that after the day I've had. I'm just going to sit on the couch and watch you guys."

"It's OK Char. Look, we're almost done. Actually, I think one of us should finish the rest of this wall while the rest of us get the paint and tools ready. And YOU, my dear, are in charge of helping me get the colors organized by wall, Deal?" Charlotte nodded.

Jasper finished up the wall, Em and Peter picked paint hauling duty and Rose and Alice grabbed all the rollers and Alice had Charlotte grab the color map she'd put on the kitchen island. I ran in and grabbed clothes to change into since I still had blood all over mine. When I got back Rose was cleaning up the stuff Jazz had been using.

"Hey, you need help?" As I shoved the left over pizza in the fridge.

"No, but I wanted to let you know that it's been decided that we're having a slumber party tonight. Like old times except with the guys."

"So couch cushions on the floor?" I questioned.

"Not quite, I sent Em around to grab air mattresses. We figured that'd be a little more comfy."

"You guys don't have to do that, Charlotte and I will be fine. I promise."

"Bells, honey, this is me you're talking to. You've had a violation. Not the worse type but a violation of your personal space, a violation of your home. I'm off tomorrow so I was gonna let Charlotte take my car so we can look into having car alarms installed. I'll make the calls. I know some places plus maybe the guys that're coming can install it as part of the whole package. We can talk to them in the morning. But I want both cars here anyway, especially hers. I'm getting her radio replaced along with the alarm so she won't have to keep looking at that destruction."

"Thank you Rose."

"I know it wasn't your home that was broken into but your car is almost as important. You pick it for you're the way it feels and makes you feel safe. From this point on, for a very long time, you'll be looking of your shoulder in that alleyway, in the backyard or anytime you're getting in or out of that car." I closed the door to the fridge and wrung my hands on the hand-towel. "Bells, remember how we took those self defense classes back in college after my thing?" Of course I did. "It was a long time ago and there's been so much going on since then. Em said they were starting some Martial Arts classes at the gym and I was thinking it might be a good idea for us to look into it. Wait, have you ever been over to the gym?"

"Not since college. We had the memberships there since the school gym was so small."

"Do you want to check it out?"

"I'm guessing the whole gang goes there right?" Rose nods with a partial smile. "And it's got reasonable prices, good classes and facilities?" She nods again. "Low number of boneheads?" That got a round of laughter.

"There are a handful. We can point them out well enough, plus we know enough of the staff since Em used to work there and we've all been going since we were in college that the longer term staff know us well. We've got a few "ins" you could say. The stupid ones are taken care of soon enough."

"Sounds good. I'm not sure how long the security guys'll be here but if they don't take the whole day then I'll try and go over tomorrow. If not, I can head over Friday. I'm hoping they get done tomorrow anyway since we've got our game tomorrow night."

"We'll get you set up soon enough. I'll have Em call Derek and get him to set you up with the special pricing. We'll just let him know you'll be over in the next couple days. We can check out the class after that. Maybe we should research and see if there are any other styles or places we'd rather go. I know I started looking back in school. I don't know how you guys feel about it now."

"It's worth getting the membership set up for sure. You know me, I can't go too long without a good run and pumping some iron." Of course, what do I do but flex my big ol muscles? HA.

All of the sudden out of nowhere, Em comes skidding around the corner and crashes to a halt in the doorway. "What's the hold-up in here gorgeous beauties of the kitchen?" He flutters his ever so long eyelashes.

"Oh Em, If Rose hadn't stolen you, I might have had to do it. We were just catching up on the idea of our little sleepover and Rose was filling me in on the gym. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to head over in the next couple days."

"Excellent! I'll call Derek right now. He'll set you up with the super special friends that are almost family discount." Em's chest puffed out as he reached for his phone.

I looked at Rose and cocked one eyebrow. "Do I want to know what that entails exactly?" Shaking blond hair as she turns away. OK, got that message loud and clear. Em's phone whips out and he walks into the other room. May as well head into the bedroom.

As I walk in Charlotte was stirring one handed in a can while Alice had the other. Rose was grabbing little cups and various size brushes to go around.

"Alright guys. Here's the deal. We need to cut in first. There are 6 and a half of us. Charlotte, you're allowed to do anything that doesn't allow you to hurt yourself further. Given the sheer pain you've been in and what the wine was doing to you, I'd rather not have you on cutting in, but I need 1 person cutting in on the bathroom and 2 in the bedroom. 1 person on each wall in here. We'll get to the wall of the bathroom last. Any questions so far?" No one muttered anything so she marched on. "Alright, light coats, remember, we've got to put a 2nd coat on anyway and we want everything to dry, so, full light coverage. Ready? And Break!!!"

No one moved for a few seconds, then we all burst into laughter. Amazing how this little pixie could be so demanding. But it was time for work. Rose and Alice started pouring small amounts of paint into various cups for those who were to cut-in. Em had disappeared only to return a minute later with the iPod dock from the living room. He set it up in the hall and cued up painting tunes. Then the Pixie was handing off supplies to everyone. Nobody wanted the bathroom though, too many small angles. So that was up to our leader. And we braved on. Rollers and brushes in hand, tunes blaring from the little speakers, we succeeded in turning the walls into parts of a home. After about an hour, and a playlist of Frou Frou, Kings of Leon, and some Joshua Radin we started noticing being a little too punchy. The swinging of Em's hips was way too amusing. All of the sudden, Peter went to the windows and opened them all wide. A rush a cool night air come in and we were all breathing deep. Fresh air was helping a lot. Jasper turned and thanked Peter for halting the asphyxiation but we still had work to do.

I have to say, it was amazing how the Steely Blue walls brought warmth to the room compared to the cold sterility of the creamy color that was there already. It was quite calming. It was going to need a second coat but it was fantastic. It was amazing how fast painting one room went with 6 people. Jasper went into the bathroom to help Alice fill in the walls. It was a brown called Sturdy Brown. Alice and I had decided that both bathrooms would be accented with earthy tones and pieces but slightly different paint colors. Same basic palate but executed differently. My bedroom felt calming and the bathroom felt warm. It was a good, relaxing sanctuary type base. I could only hope that it continued on like that once we got the new furniture pieces. I guess we'd have to wait and see.

By the time we were done I was getting pretty tired and I was pretty sure that everybody else was too after the day we had. Alice decided to get started on the living room and kitchen though. Since the kitchen was my baby, I volunteered for that duty. Alice had opted for a darker khaki color with the intent that the stainless steel appliances were also fairly neutral and I'd be able to change the accents over time or during different seasons. I liked it. It was simple. While I was working on this, Everybody else had been given individual walls in the living room and those walls that then extended down the hallway. I have to say I would have never put the colors together, but they surprisingly worked and reminded me of Fall, which was my favorite time of year and honestly just made me feel like home. The four walls were orange, green, red and tan. The orange was more like a burnt orange type called Empire Gold. The green was Sheraton Sage, need I say more? The red was Cajun red but had a muted tone to it working very well with the burnt orange and sagey colors. The tan was a more neutral color to balance things out a bit. All of the painted woodwork was a lighter tan/beige color. Alice said white would be way too bright. Around 11pm we finally washed out all of the brushes and rollers and put away the paint cans. We really just collapsed on each other in a heap in the middle of the floor.

"Did somebody mention air mattresses and a sleep over earlier today?" Em raises his eyebrows over at me then looks at Rose expectantly.

"Yes sir. I fought it but I was outgunned. I still say you guys don't have to stay, we'll be fine. I know most of you have to work tomorrow." I sighed in exasperation, but just as I let out the last of my deep breath, I noticed Charlotte looking down at the floor focusing intently on the splatter of paint that had been left there.

"Abso-fuckin-lutly not. We've already got the mattresses, and sleeping bags. Not to mention sleeping bags. So you girls go get ready and pick out a movie. We'll get the air mattresses set up and we'll all be happier about this later. Really you don't get a say in this anymore. The girls haven't had you all to themselves in a while and us guys are a bit in protective mode. So scoot." Em swatted at my ass as I jumped. I turned to Jasper.

"Don't look at me darlin'. You and I had a little talk about it earlier, then the girls were worried and when I told them what I told you, the deal was sealed. You can blame it all on me if you'd like but you've got a full house tonight m'dear. Oh and I'm pretty sure Peter's got a hankerin to stick around as well." Jazz looked over my shoulder and raised his eyebrow to Peter. "Peter, I speak for Rose, Alice, Em and myself, you're more than welcome to stay tonight if you'd like. We've got enough mattresses and bags for everybody." Peter laughed and eyed me.

"And you were calling me protective." Everybody looked at us questioningly. "Oh wait, they didn't get filled in on that conversation did they?" I shook my head, smiling slightly. "Would you like to do the honors or should I?"

"I'll let you fill them in, you're going to have to learn how to open your mouth around these guys."

"Ladies and Gentleman, I'd like to announce that the Gracious and Fair Bella has granted me temporary shelter in the Castle-De-Swan beginning on the next sunrise." At that Emmett burst out laughing. I could only shake my head. But it was Charlotte that summed it up well.

"I believe the concern was that this bumbling idiot had some sort of hero complex. Given the medieval speech we just heard, I'm beginning to side with Bella on this one."Charlotte was grinning widely as she said this.

"Yeah yeah, OK, it's a 6 month lease, a trail of sorts. If the girls feel I'm overbearing or truly have a hero complex, I'll find accommodations elsewhere. I think it's fair. I'll sleep better knowing the security system is here as well as someone else being here besides these two, not to mention I won't be at my old place." And again, silence. "Right, I guess I should fill you in on that one too." Peter took a deep breath and filled everyone in on the quick version of psycho-stalker-girl. Jasper summarized quite succinctly.

"Dude, that sucks." Peter nodded.

"Yeah, I need to find somewhere to burn that bed ceremoniously. I'm never sleeping in it again and I don't think anyone else should be subjected to it either."

"Alright then, it's decided. Ladies, the lot of you are getting some incredibly manly protection tonight until the big bad security men come to install the whole shebang tomorrow."Em grinned widely as he flexed his muscles. "Peter if we're really sweet, we might even be able to wrangle Bella-boo here into making us one of her fantastic breakfasts in the morning before we all head out to work." Of course he used the eyebrow thing on me. That and the dimples from Emmett were the magic formula to get his way.

Peter nodded. Out of the corner of my eye, Charlotte seemed to relax. "Alright, if everybody's OK with it, I'd love to stay. I'll probably sleep better on the floor than on my couch."

"Who said anything about the floor?" Asked Rose. Peter looked up. "No worries peter, We grabbed an extra mattress for you, and we've got Bells and Charlotte sharing one. We've got you covered."

"Alright people, let's go. Boys, mattresses. Girls, PJ's. NOW!!!" that Pixie was Evil.

After setting up for bed, setting alarms and curling up in front of the movie, it didn't take long for everybody to just pass out.

~~~Thursday AM~~~

I woke up to my phone vibrating. I looked to turn off the alarm only to realize it wasn't the alarm, it was Eli. I answered it groggily.

"Hello"

"Bella, Sorry to wake you up. I just wanted to give you a heads up. The security company will be there in 45 minutes." Holy cow, what time is it?

"OK, Um, what time is it now?"

"6:45"

"Holy Shit!!! They're starting early."

"It's a big job and they're also being compensated for the rush status. That part's being taken care of by our offices. Give me a call if anything comes up."

"Sure, Oh, Eli, Rose had a good idea. We were wondering if this company did car alarms as well and if they might be able to install one on both mine and Charlotte's cars while they're doing everything else. If they can, Rose was going to let Charlotte take her car to work."

"That's actually a great idea. I'll give the team leader a call and ask him to add that to the order. Oh, and Bella, I understand Peter's going to be taking on a 6 month lease for the basement unit, right?"

"Yeah, we thought it was best to give it a trial. I wanted to make sure he wasn't trying to do this out of a sense of chivalry or something. We don't want a protector."

"I understand completely. I'll get everything taken care of today. Again, give me a call if anything comes up."

"Sure thing, Bye Eli." Fuck it was early. Rubbing my face, Charlotte puts her hand on my arm.

"Bells, was that Eli?"

"Yeah, he said the security company'll be here in about 45 minutes. I'm gonna go grab a shower and get breakfast going for everybody. A couple of these guys have to get up in a bit." Tear tracks were wet down Charlotte's cheek. "Charlotte, what's wrong sweetie?"

"Bells, I'm really sorry about all of this. If I'd just kept my big mouth shut or called the cops or anything but what I did, we wouldn't be in this situation. I'm really really sorry. We wouldn't have had to go to the hospital or down to the police station or have a living room full of people." Tears were coming much faster now

"Charlotte, you need to stop. These people here in this living room… well, they care about us. They're here because they want to make sure we're OK and they were nervous for us. They didn't want us to have to be alone after what we'd been through. Could things have happened differently? Sure. But it happened just the way it did and that's that." I reached out to wipe some of the tears away from her cheeks.

"Charlotte, you kept looking down and away yesterday when we were talking about things with everybody. I have a couple questions I need to ask you as a friend and not as a landlord, OK?" She nodded. " How are you feeling?"

"My head's sore. Peter wrote my s script for some stronger Tylenol so I think I'm gonna go get it filled today on my way to work so it'll help a bit more." I squeezed her hand.

"Do you feel scared or nervous to live here after what happened?" She shook her head.

"Not scared, but a little nervous. I liked having everybody here last night. I didn't think it would matter if they were or not till you told them they didn't have to stay then I got pretty freaked out for a min or two. It's kinda like that feeling you get as a kid when something scares you and you wanna go crawl into mom and dad's bead. You know?" I nodded.

"If you need company for a while, we can do that. K?" She nodded. "Alright, you heard most of what they were going to install, are you OK with all of that?"

"Yeah, it's making me feel better just knowing there's an extra layer of safety. We'll have to get into some new habits, but I think it'll be worth it. Do you think we can also leave a light on in the stairway?"

"Of course we can. OK, and now a big one that I should have asked you before. How do you feel about Peter moving in downstairs?" And now I'm met with silence. "Char?"

"I think I'm OK with it."

"Does he make you uncomfortable or feel at all unsafe? We can tell Eli not to go through with the lease today. Oh Charlotte, I'm sorry, I should have asked you." Her eyes darted up.

"No no no, It's not like that. He makes me nervous in a good way. I actually feel better that he'll be around more." Charlotte's cheek blushed furiously. "Maybe we can all do dinner or movie nights or something. It was really lonely here for a while in this big house all by myself." I smiled at her.

"We're going to be OK Char." She noded. "You OK driving Rose's car today? Eli's going to have the guys install the alarm systems in both our cars today."

"I always meant to get an alarm system and now I'll have one, I'm glad." I smiled.

"Alright, I'm going to go get ready now. I'm pretty sure the water tank can handle two showers at once if you need to get ready."

"I don't have to go in till about 10 so I'll let Emmett and Jasper get ready first." And Charlotte cuddled up under the covers as I scurried off to the bathroom.

In the next half hour, there's a shuffle of showers, coffee pots being made and made again, eggs, toast, bacon and hugs. As Jasper loaded his dirty dishes into the dishwasher he leaned against the counter.

"Bells, you know we're all here for you right?"

"Yeah, I know. It's just all so surreal. I know it wasn't as big as a death or car accident or anything but the lengths this kid went to just for a car stereo, with witnesses. I deal with blood all the time, but when it's a friend lying there, or family… that's the worst. That's why we're not supposed to work on people we know." Jasper nodded his head. And was quiet for a minute.

"I know I'm the quiet one and you don't have much of a real history with me Bella. But I need you to understand that when we got that text message. Even the lack of information told us something. And knowing Alice and Rose, we knew it was enough to say something. Em tried to call Rose to browbeat information out of her and as you probably guessed, Rose threatened bedroom activities to keep him from cancelling the rest of his appointments to come investigate himself. The fact that she still didn't tell him what happened made him worried enough to rearrange things quite a bit. I took a slightly less obvious rough but I go here a hell of a lot earlier than normal. Fact is, you've always been a part of Rose and Alice's lives. Before either Emmett or I were ever there. And Charlotte has just joined the party. You two will be there for a long time to come. Y'all are sisters. And by default, that makes you ours too. I can tell you right now, without an ounce of hesitancy, you scared the shit out of us kid, and now that you're safe, we want to make sure you stay that way. But we also want to make sure you're not scared."

"That's a tall order Jazz"

"It's one that you have a few big guys here ready to take that particular challenge. And yes, I'm including Peter in that. He may have just met us all yesterday, but if I'm not mistaken, he and Charlotte will be seeing quite a lot of each other in the future. We're becoming one big happy family." I had to smile at that. I'd never had a big family. I liked the idea of it.

Em had walked up behind us as we were talking. "You know he's right don't you Bells?" I turned and nodded. Tears I'd been trying o hold back were falling now.

"I have a hunch we're not getting rid of these few overprotective men we've got in our lives anytime soon, so I'm learning to deal with it. In the mean time, can I just have a hug?" I looked up and before I could even get my arms out, I was being sandwiched between my two favorite guys.

Alice, Jasper, Em and Charlotte all scurried out to jobs and as Rose and I were cleaning up the kitchen the doorbell rang.

**AN: Sorry for the delay. Not much was happening here and I was having trouble getting it all out. Hopefully the next one comes a bit smoother since things start to come together.**


	10. Safe

**AN: I don't own the characters**

**Chapter 10 – Safe**

**BPOV**

The uniforms looked official through the peep-hole and so did the truck with the others milling around taking equipment out so I opened the door.

"Hello, I'm looking for a Ms. Isabella Swan."

"You've found her."

"My name is Andy, I'm from Infinity Security Systems. I've arranged with a Mr. Eleazar Denali to have a security system installed today. Is this correct?" I nodded. "He also called back this morning and mentioned that you might be interested in having alarms installed in a couple of cars, is that true?"

"More than true actually. If you can do it, we'd like it done. We understand its short notice though."

"Not a problem Miss Swan, we've got all the equipment in the truck. I've got a fairly large crew today to make sure we get everything done so I apologize for us being underfoot. We'll have everything wrapped up before the day's out though."

"That sounds wonderful. Well I guess just let me know what you need."

"Well, if we could get Carl here started on the cars, I assume they're here?" I nodded. "Then if you'd show me around the house. I understand the house is divided into 3-4 units, with the 1st and 2nd floor capable of being used separately as a single unit, is that correct?"

"Yes, there's also a shared stairwell in the back of the house as well as parking in the alley. We're definitely concern about the alleyway and area leading to the house from there. That's where we had an attack in broad daylight." He nodded stiffly. "Hey Rose?" Rose walked in drying her hands on a dishtowel. Who knew she could be so domestic. "Would you mind showing Carl where the cars are so he can get started on the car alarms? I'm going to show Andy around the house."

"Sure thing. Need any help schlepping your toolbox or the alarm units Carl, my dear?" She was off and running talking car-talk. Carl seemed reluctant at first and by the time they got to the back door, he'd handed over the two boxes I'm assuming had the alarm units in them. Andy shook his head and chuckled.

"Well that's something." I cocked my head. "Carl doesn't let anybody touch his stuff. That leggy thing you've got there musta done a number on him." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Ahh, Rose has a head for cars. My guess is that she'll be out there helping him install them if he'll let her. She's a certified mechanic. If she didn't have a heart that was too big to fit in her chest she'd probably do that all day but instead she does it as a hobby and keep her friends well maintained while keeping her day-job." The Ah-Ha light bulb went off over Andy's head and we started on our tour. The rest of the crew followed behind us and Andy dished out instructions for each. By the time we got done with the tour there were 5 guys, besides Carl, installing devices on doors and windows for movement and breakage, cameras near entrances and in the alleyway to be linked to the new closed circuit TV system, panic buttons near each entranceway to call the alarm company in case someone knocked or rang the bell, and a state of the art phone unit that would be installed on every floor. It would act as both an intercom system and an emergency phone to call the alarm company, fire, police or ambulance. It would even work without electricity, though it was cordless, so long as it was charged.

Just as they were getting started Peter came out of the bathroom and headed out. He said goodbye to me.

"Hey Bells, is it alright with you if I bring some stuff over after I sign the lease and grab the keys this morning? My shift starts this afternoon and I wanted to get some stuff in for the next couple days before my shift is over just so I'm not too tired."

"Yeah yeah, no problem at all. Just come on in. If the alarm truck is gone, gimme a call first so I can give you the run-down on the alarm before you accidentally set it off."

"Haha, yeah, no problem." And he was off to get his shit done. Rose sauntered in with greasy hands and a HUGE grin.

"So I'm guessing you got Carl to let you help with some of the install?" I asked.

"Actually no. If someone other than one of their employees does it, it voids the warranty, not a bad policy, but I noticed Charlotte oil was due for a change so I did a quick change."

"Have I ever told you that you absolutely blow me away? Wanna help me put the second coat on the bedroom and master bath if we get there?"

"Sure. Lemme clean up so I don't mess up your walls. Why don't you let the guys know where we are in case they need anything. I guess this means the tunes can't be quite so loud today huh?"

"Probably not. Alice left the colors for those rooms in the bedroom, I'll meet you in there."

Rose went off to find her orange goopy stuff for cleaning up various car fluids and I went to find Andy. I didn't like just hanging out spying on them really so I was glad to have something to do that wouldn't put me in the way. I figured we'd leave the wall with the windows for last but as soon as I told Andy what we were doing, he sent one of the guys in to finish installing the window alarms in those rooms so they wouldn't be in our way when we got to that wall. I thanked him and headed in to prep the paint and get started.

Hours later Rose and I were done with the Bedroom and working on the bathroom, Carl popped his head in to ask us if we could take a break so he could show us how the car alarms worked. We cleaned out the brushes we were using and headed out back. Turns out we've not only got an alarm, but a remote starter on Charlotte's, mine was a manual transmission so I was out of luck there, and the keyfobs would actually tell us what park of the car was being broken into with a digital download for the police via USB. Really it was quite cool. Carl excused himself to go help hook up the CCTV and the control panels and Rose decided to kick me out.

"Alright missy, I think it's time for you to head over to the gym. I can order Pizza for the guys here and then finish up the bathroom on my own. Since the cars are done, you can take yours down to the gym or really, it'd be easier to just take the train and go see Derek. Em called Derek already and he's got everything ready for you so you've just gotta sign things and get the grand tour. I think they've changed some things since you were here. He's working for the next few hours so it'll be easier to go talk to him than have him explain everything to someone else. I'll take care of everything here."

"Alright. Just make sure you get some extra pizza for me for later." Rose had her phone out before I was in the bathroom to change.

The train ride wasn't bad. I decided to take one of my favorite books to read just like old times and almost missed the stop, just like old times. But I got there and headed in the entrance I remembered from what seemed to be eons ago. There were a couple people that walked in ahead of me but when I got to the desk I asked a nice enough looking woman if Derek happened to be around. She asked me to wait a minute and made a call. I took a seat and just as my ass hit the chair, the door next to be burst open with an enthusiasm that could rival Emmett any day and a short dark haired man came out and offered a hand to me asking if I was Bella.

"That would be me. I've guessing Emmett called to tell you I'd be coming?"

"That and Rose called to say you were on the way right now. She wanted me to call and tell her if you weren't here in another…" he turned his watch over "5 minutes. Not many get to see the Mama-Hen routine. I'm guessing you know that though?" I nodded. "Alright then. Come in to my cave here and let's get started."

We stepped into his office and he gestured for me to take a seat. "So Em tells me you used to be a member here years ago, mind if I ask why you left us?"

"I went back out West after I graduated. I just moved back this week. Don't worry, I didn't flock to the competition." He grinned but I was right, standard question. I knew from listening to Em when he worked there before the gyms were always trying to find out how to keep members or get new ones, etc.

"I'm a little disappointed I didn't have a spy but we'll get you set up. No worries." He asked for my information and we got everything in the computer. Most of it was already done so everything took a lot less time than I remember it ever taking. He took my picture and handed me a keytag, which I attached to my keys quickly and we headed out for a tour. There were a lot of new staff since my stint here back in the day, and they'd upgraded many of the machines. New paint jobs and even some build-outs made the place look fairly fresh which was nice. I loved the fact that this place was still a family friendly place. I didn't have kids, but I love em. Sure you wanna be fairly serious when you're at the gym, but it's nice to look up from an exhausting 8 mile trek on the treadmill and see a couple of kids having fun, smiling and laughing at each other. It's one of the things in life that you just can't help grin at. We wrapped up the tour and I said my goodbyes to Derek after grabbing all of the schedules.

I took a look at the class descriptions and started highlighting the things that looked interesting. The typical Yoga and Pilates were always good low-impact ways to build strength and flexibility. Never a bad thing. They had a number of kickboxing classes which had always intrigued me, but they also had a boxing class. That sounded interesting. There were separate fliers for a volleyball league that I'd pass along to the rest of the gang as well as one for the Martial Arts classes. Surprisingly enough, there were a couple options to choose from. I figure I'd talk to the girls and see if they were interested. I know Rose said she was, but who knows, maybe Charlotte and Alice would be too. Who knows, maybe we could become super secret ninjas and all of the sudden, one day we could ambush and kidnap the guys for fun. The little hamsters in my head are running a 5k right now. Not good for the penises in my life. Haha.

I walked in the front door and seriously couldn't tell how much progress the crew had made since I'd left. Cognitively, I knew I'd been gone a few hours and they must've finished a lot of the things they'd been doing, but as I walked into the kitchen there was a nest of wires and tools. My kitchen was not being used for dinner tonight, that's for damn sure. These wires were leaving disgusting shit all over the place.

Rose walked out of the bedroom with paint splatters in her hair. She walked over to me as she was drying a paintbrush in her hand with a paper towel and I couldn't hold back the laughter anymore when I saw the splatter through her eyebrow.

"Shut up missy. I had to finish up. I was bored out of my mind while also trying to drown out the horrific sounds of electric drills. I forgot how much I hate those sounds." She shuttered dramatically. "Oh, Peter dropped by earlier with a couple carloads of stuff. Clothes, toiletries, CDs, the usual. He was going to hang out here before heading into work then realized he didn't have any kitchen stuff anymore. Something about an evil witch tainting it all. Anyway, I helped him bring everything in and unpack and then he headed out to shop. Since the alarm wasn't done, he left his number and I gave him yours. Go ahead and put it in your phone before you forget." I pulled mine out and followed directions; Rose is not one to mess with when she's like this. "He's planning on calling you when he gets off work so you can let him in and give him a crash course in the alarm. He said it might be pretty late and he was sorry. If you need to head to bed, you can call or text him directions and he'd figured it out. After Peter left I had nothing better to do so I finished up in the bathroom. It's really hard to get the area behind the toilet. I'm not sure how Pixie did it other than the fact that she might be a closet contortionist."

"Wow. Well, thanks for helping out with all of that, babe. I wish I'd left something for you to do. Do you want to take a shower or head home or something?"

"I'll shower in a bit, I don't want to be covered in paint at volleyball later. Why don't you go take a look at the room?" She pulled me by the hand toward the bedroom with quite a bit of excitement and I almost had a hard time keeping up.

It was amazing. The color was just like I imagined. Cool and relaxing. It's amazing what a little drying time will do to make your dreams come true. The sun was setting and reflected beautifully off the walls. I squeezed Rose's hand and headed to the bathroom. It was bare of a shower curtain, bathmat or anything accessories at all, but the color was definitely even. I'd have to get Alice in here ASAP to help me get everything put together so it'd all make sense to me. I just couldn't put the image together in my head.

"Seriously Rose, you're amazing. Thank you so much. I don't know how I can repay you for this."

"Don't worry about it. I needed something to keep me busy while these fuckers took care of business."

"We'll work something out. I'm not letting you go without something." Just then there was a knock at the doorway.

"Excuse me ladies. Ms Swan, we've got the Closed Circuit System and the downstairs apartment up and running. When you get a chance we can go over the operation."

"Thanks Andy. I'll be out in a few minutes." He left us and Rose turned to me looking down at her watch.

"Hey babe. I just realized what time it is. The game starts in an hour." Fuck! No! I hate missing games.

"Shit. Looks like I'm not heading out with you. Hopefully, the education portion of our tour won't last all that long and I can head over soon. Go ahead and get cleaned up. Let everybody know I'll head over ASAP. Text me updates between games though. I wanna know how we're doing. K?"

"You bet, I can't leave you out of it." Edward's supposed to be there today too, I hope you can get over there so you guys can finally meet. Alice and I are interested to see how much you two butt heads." Rose smirked and turned towards the shower.

"Excuse me?"

"I didn't say anything."

"BULLSHIT!!!" and headed out to meet Andy. He was in the kitchen mounting a new flat screen TV monitor on the corner of the island at the edge of the bar on a mount that rotated. There was a spot right under that for the emergency phone/intercom system but the best part was the whole unit had a cover that came out of the bar back making it look like there was a bread-box with a roll-top front when there would never really be a bread-box. Very James Bond-y. I'm a closet gadget girl so I was liking this.

"Hey Andy, interesting set-up you've got here. I understand you wanted to show me how some thing worked?"

"I sure did. Give me just a moment to mount these last few screws and we can get started. The guys are in the process of connecting the control pads in each unit to your master unit and running through the test sequence on that and the intercom system." I nodded and sat down at the table taking everything in. Carl was cleaning up the massive amounts of wiring that was just lying around in piles. It was obvious they'd needed it for the various jobs they'd been doing all day but it looked like a mess.

"So do you like the faux bread-box?"

"I do actually. It was one of the first things I noticed after I realized just how much cleaning I'd have to do down here."

"Haha, actually, your affection for your kitchen is one of the reasons we've got the breadbox. We've found over time that most people who love their kitchen as much as I've been informed you do use the kitchen/great-room area of the house as a hub for most activity, which is why the closed-circuit unit and the intercom unit base are here. At the same time, most prefer not to be constantly reminded of the need for security. Thus, by using a faux bread-box, the intercom is hidden from being an everyday reminder but accessible. At the same time, the TV here is a fully functional television, it is also an HDTV and has been wired into your existing cable. A new cable and power connection were installed at the side of the island and were made to blend in." Shit they were, these guys were good. I couldn't see them at all.

He went on to explain the location of the cameras on the front and back door as well as the stairwell, laundry, fire escape and alleyway. Everything visible via camera was saved on a harddrive in the house that was now stored in a closet in the house as well as sent back to their offices and archived for a period of time.

Just as we were getting ready to head downstairs so Andy could show me how to use the first keypad and set the passcode, Charlotte got home and Rose got out of shower so Charlotte joined the tour and Rose took off to the game promising to keep me updated if I promised to head out ASAP.

We set the code to Peter's apartment and headed up to Charlotte's place. We ran through everything twice there so she made sure she understood exactly how everything else worked. Then we headed down to the 2nd floor. They were installing a unit there but trying to route it into my unit downstairs so I could control both from either pad right now but if I decided to rent out the 2nd floor I could use the 1st floor pad to program the other pad to be independent. This was apparently being a little tricky in the programming. It wasn't ready when we got there so we just headed down to my place. Carl was pretty much done cleaning up and was actually cleaning up with some Clorox wipes. I was a bit impressed, I won't lie. I got my first text from Rose.

**Just won the first game. Jazz isn't happy about setting, he wishes you were here but we're playing well. ~R**

I knew Jazz wouldn't be happy going back to setting. He'd been really happy to be set free last game. Don't get me wrong. He's a good setter but there's something about putting all your strength behind a wind-up and absolutely nailing the ball that's really therapeutic. And when the ball's a good kill, there's a joy that comes after that's just really hard to explain unless you've lived it. Mostly I think because this game is a game of finesse. It's not a power sport. And sure anybody can jump on the court, but not anybody can play.

_One of the first leagues I ever played in we had a couple jocks who'd played football and lacrosse join the team. They'd watched their girlfriends play in college and they thought it'd be a great bonding experience. They were athletes right? They could pull off switching to a different sport. They'd watched it on TV and watched their girlfriend's games for years, so they joined. Girlfriend 1 and 2 never opened their mouths. Needless to say, the guys were highly embarrassed when Alice, Rose and I quite literally picked them up and dragged them to places on the court repeatedly, or bent their knees for them or god forbid they got in my way on 2__nd__ ball. Shit, they were dead. D-E-D dead. _

_It took them about 3 games before one of them had it and yelled at me. Rose blew a fuse. The girlfriends just sat back and snickers the fuckers. _

"_Alright ASSHATS, lets get this straight, you're going to yell at us for getting in your way when for the last 3 weeks you've done nothing but disgrace the sport of volleyball and act like cocky fucktards? Seriously? We tried to be nice about this. You've grown up playing sports we get that, you didn't grow up playing this sport. This is NOT a contact sport. This is NOT a power sport. Sure we get to hit the ball, but this is a sport of placement and fineness. Think about it. The ball comes to your side of the net, FAST, you dig it" Rose said holding up one finger "and you not only just put your arm out willie nillie, you dig it toward a target, every single FUCKING time. THEN, the SETTER, a particular person…" she said pointing at me "uses his or her hands in a very delicate and specific way to set the ball accurately and quickly to a hitter of his or her choice based on factors such as who's in what rotation, who's playing their strong position, what offensive play haven't we played in a while, what defense is the other team prepared for at THIS VERY MOMENT in time. AND THEN, the specific hitter is then in charge with hitting the shit out of the ball or making the decision to dink or tip the ball to make sure they get around or through the blockers. THIS game is NOT a game of brawn. It's a game of quick thinking and placement. And THAT is just the offense. Seeing as how your girlfriends brought you here with their skill and knowingly kept their mouths shut, they obviously don't think much of you. I honestly hope neither of you gets laid for months."_

_At that the other team cackled in laughter. _

That day lived in infamy with us for a long time. The boyfriends didn't come back the rest of the season. Apparently they apologized to the girlfriends the next day and shortly after asked for lessons.

Charlotte and I ordered some Chinese and waited for the guys to get the kinks out of the system. Unfortunately by the time they did, we were done with dinner and the second game was over and we'd won that one as well. Rose told me she thought there was a good chance of them winning the next one and me not needing to worry about heading out since it was best of 5.

The guys finished up the rest of the install and Andy showed us the rest of the system including the intercom/emergency phone unit and showed Charlotte the closed caption system so in case she ever needed to use it she could. Just as Andy and the guys were heading out the door finally finished, my phone rang. Alice.

"My dearest Sync, we missed you tonight spouting out orders and keeping us in line."

"I missed you too my bouncy ball."

"We're heading home. Do you need us to come to your place tonight again?" I looked at Charlotte.

"Al, gimme a sec."

"Sure." I pulled the phone away from my ear and covered the earpiece.

"Hey Char, They wanna know if we want them to come here with us tonight or if we want to be alone tonight. What do you think?" She bit her lip and thought hard.

"Um… No. The security system is on and Peter's going to be at some point tonight right?" I nodded.

"You sure? He won't be in until late."

"Yeah, we've gotta start sometime and we've got this kick-ass security system put in but maybe we could watch a movie till Peter gets here though."

"Of course." I grabbed the phone again. "Ally, We'll be fine. Everybody can head home. Peter will be heading back when he's done and Char and I are just gonna watch a movie. How'd the rest of the game go?"

"We won, I think the guys were all a little upset about this week honestly. Getting out a little frustration. There was a lot of zoning-in if you ask me."

"Gotcha. Oh, Al, can you help me get the bathroom together really soon. Rose helped finish the painting today and it looks fantastic but I need the full effect. I just can't see it yet, ya know."

"We'll take care of that very very soon darling, have no fears. Alright. Have a good night you two. Sleep well. Love N Hugs." I hung up and told Charlotte to go change and I'd grab a few movies for her to choose from.


	11. Game

**AN: I can take ownership for the plotline but not the characters. **

**Chapter 11 – Game**

**EPOV**

I'd been waiting for today, Thursday, all week long. It's been an interesting week. Maternity was hit or miss. I had a couple days where we had a couple new births, but nothing as crazy as Mrs. Curtis. Thank whatever god you might believe in. Everybody's popped into the world in a relatively calm manner. Well, as calmly as possible when birth is involved. I mean really. Is there really a need for so much screaming and shrieking? I mean I understand the mom, the one pushing out the watermelon size human, but do the grandmas and sisters and everybody else really need to join in? Pain by osmosis or something? I dunno. Looking back, the funniest really had to be the linebacker imitation of a father who started hyperventilating and then shrieking louder than his wife. Really it was like looking into the future with Emmett and Rose. Freaky if you ask me.

I'd gotten a page from my Ortho mentor almost as soon as I'd gotten to the hospital this morning. Some guy was trying to install new windows on a second floor in a unit he rented out near Fenway all by himself. The idiot wanted to avoid paying a contractor or window company to come out over the weekend, their next available appointment, when he had new tenants moving in on Sunday. Seriously? Dude, pay the extra money to have PROFESSIONALS install the 2nd story window. Needless to say he didn't and I spent today getting an education in putting screws and plates in legs and ankle. The guy still has other broken bones but he tried to land on his feet so his ankles and Tibia and Fibula got the worst of it. The guy would be in a wheelchair for at least 8 weeks while the larger fractures healed. Luckily only one ankle was busted up otherwise it would be much worse for him. Either way, when you're getting screws put in both legs, you are, well… screwed. There's really no other way to spill that tale.

We'd just gotten out of surgery for our Falling Landlord when I happened to notice that I had about two hours until my shift was over and I headed to the game. The game was honestly one of the best parts of my week. I was pretty bummed I'd missed our season opener and even more bummed I couldn't guarantee being at all of them. The girls understood since they worked here in the hospital and all, but still. Everybody seemed to be having so much fun and the girls were very excited about having their college roommate/best friend back in town. I guess the guys met her back then and said she was a pretty cool girl. I was kinda jealous that everybody seemed so excited about her being in town. They almost didn't seem to notice my absence lately. I mean really in the last 2 days I hadn't gotten a single call from anybody. Not that the girls called me unless something was going on, but Jazz and Em were my brothers really and nothing. Not a text, not a call, not anything. Even Peter had been flying below the radar since he went to go find a new apartment. I was starting to feel unloved. ::sigh::

"Hey Masen! You look like a bug's got your ass, what's up?" Peter said walking into the Doctors Lounge. Speak of the Devil and he shall appear.

"Hey Peter, just replaying some of what happened with my ortho patient today for his op notes. I want to get my contribution in before Stall sends in her report."

"Gotcha. Was it a complicated one?"

"Not really. Fractured Tibias and Fibulas as well as one of the ankles. Plates and screws. Kinda fun really. Reminds me of my old erector set back when I thought maybe I was going to build the next biggest and best robot for the world."

"Wait, Masen an engineer? I don't buy it. You like the fast pace of the ER too much for sitting at a computer or drafting board all day."

"Yeah well, some of us like to tinker and don't really care what we're tinkering with. So how'd your apartment search go? Did you find anything?"

"Oh man, I found the most amazing place and the most amazing girl lives upstairs too." And there was something in his eyes right then. Damn, he'd better not be getting into another Maria situation. "It's actually a floor of one of the old houses on Genessee." I sat up so quick I banged my head on the locker door. "It's been converted into units but it's amazing." OK, it couldn't be my baby. She was a single family home, no divisions. God that porch and the turret and the gingerbreading around the roof. So beautiful. "Not to mention it's really close to the T and the drive into work isn't bad either. The owner has an alley entrance with parking for the tenants and both the girls that live there are really nice. Luckily they had an opening so I moved in yesterday."

"Sounds like you're smitten and I'm not sure if it's with the house or the girl. Speaking of the girl, how interested are you really?" I couldn't help but raise my eyebrow at him.

"I just… I mean… Masen… she's….she's everything I think I was looking for. " Was he freaking serious?

"Peter? I really really don't want to be a Debbie Downer here but are you getting ahead of yourself? You just met this girl and I think I may need to remind you that you just had one of the most fucked up relationship/dating situations with a psycho bitch that I've ever heard of. I mean seriously. You might want to slow down a bit."

"HAHA, Thank you for watching my sorry ass. I am planning on taking this nice and slow. Between psycho bitch and things she's dealt with recently, slow is a very very good thing."

"Alright, But I'll be there to kick your ass if you decide to forget that."

"Good, I'm glad somebody's watching out for me."

Just then I was paged down to the ER to meet Dr. Stall. I said my goodbyes to Peter and took the stairs down to the ER. I met her at the nurses' station. She handed me a chart for a Matthew Harper, age 5, with a simple fracture of his right radius.

"This one is a pretty simple one. I know we just got done with surgery and all, but you've got some time before you're off the clock and I know Thursday is your game night so I'm guessing you'd probably rather get sucked into casting a hurt and broken little kid than possibly get pulled into Labor and Delivery or another Fallen Landlord right now. Am I right?"

Without saying a word, I grabbed the chart again from the spot on the counter I'd just set it down and walked around to where the kid was with his mom. I could hear Stall snorting at me as I walked away. Oh well. She was right, I didn't want to get sucked into anything bigger.

"Radiology just called down, they're ready for him up in X-Ray."

I pulled back the curtain in Exam 2 to be met with big blue eyes swimming with tears. He jumped when I'd pulled the curtain back. It didn't escape my notice. It was a clean simple fracture but he was jumpy. Why? I was one of the good guys or at least I was supposed to be.

"Hey Kiddo. I'm Dr. Masen. You're Matthew right?" He sniffed and nodded. "I'm gonna sit down and we're gonna talk for a minute before we do anything OK?" He looked up at Mom and then looked back before nodding again.

"I think it's kinda warm in here, do you think so?" He shook his head slowly not quite knowing what to make of me yet. "Is it OK with you if I take my jacket off? I can get pretty hot running around all day." His eyes went big. Bingo. I started to pull off the lab coat. "My mom always wonders why I wear so many layers when I'm at work, do you like wearing your jacket when you go outside to play?" He shook his head. And I threw the coat onto the other chair in the area that we weren't using. My hospital ID was clipped to my scrub top instead of my labcoat so I was ready to head up to X-Ray with him in a few.

"What kinds of games do you like to play?" His shoulders slowly inched up to his ears and he just kept looking at me like I was nuts. You have no idea kid. "Hmm… Are you any good at hide and seek?" Nod. "Cops and Robbers?" Nod. "Tag?" Quick nod and a smile. "HAHA, good deal. Maybe you could give me some pointers on that. I'm no good at tag. My best friend always catches me."

"You gotta not get caught Dr. … um…" he scruntched up his face trying to remember. White Coat Syndrome strikes again. And this is why I wear my badge on my shirt instead of my coat, you never know when a kid'll get you to strip.

"How about Dr. Edward? Is that a little easier?"

"Yes Sir"

"Hey Matthew, what were you doing when you got hurt?" I pointed at his arm and inched forward to take a look without touching yet.

"It's a surprise. No one was 'posed to find out till when Annie gots home."

"And who's Annie?"

"She's my big sister. It's her Birfday. She's gonna be 8. She's gonna be sad when we're not home when she's there." OK, let's kill two birds with one stone.

"Uh Oh, is somebody else going to meet her when she get home so she won't be so sad? I'm sure she's be pretty happy to hear that you're going to be home soon." I took a quick peek up at mom and she nodded.

"Mrs. Taylor is gonna get her at the bus. That's posed to be my job."

"Hmm… That's a pretty important job." He nodded with scrunched up serious lips. Damned if this kids wasn't the cutest I'd seen all year. "Hey Matthew, have you ever had and X-Ray?" His eyes went big and he shook his head slowly.

"Dat doesn't sound good."

"Well, do you know who Superman is?" He nodded again.

"Of course I do Dr. Edward. He's one of the bestest superheros in the whole wide universe."

"HAHA, I agree with you there buddy, but remember how he can see through things like walls when he needs to?" Matthew thought for a minute and nodded. "That is X-Ray vision. We have machines here that can look through your skin at your bones and help tell us if bones are broken and where and if we need to do anything to fix them or just give them a really good protective case to make sure they don't get hurt anymore."

"Wow, that's pretty cool."

"Well kiddo, we're gonna take a trip up to the X-Ray Machine and have it take a picture of your arm so we can see what it looks like." Cue eyes getting HUGE with what looked to be wonder "Sound like a plan?" I asked. He nodded furiously still with those wide eyes.

"HAHA, alright bud. Let's grab our stuff and we can head up. You get a ride in the official hospital transportation though, we can't have you bumping that arm on anything on the way up." He looked right up at his mom next.

"Dat means I get to ride in a wheelchair mom. Wait till Annie hears bout this."

I grabbed a chair from nursing and dropped my labcoat off for them to hang onto for me till I got back. We loaded Matthew up and headed to Radiology. He sat super well and asked tons of questions, as any good 5-year old is supposed to. I answered everything I could and the radiologist answered what she could, if 5-year-old terms that is. Matthew wanted to see his x-rays right away so it was lucky we have digital machines now so we could do just that. With a few clicks the radiologist had pulled up his hand on the monitor and we were pointing out to Matthew all of his fingers and hand and arm bones. It was pretty damn cool to be able to tell him everything he wanted to know like that. After a few minutes of Q&A we headed back down to ER to cast his arm. It was a simple fracture. No resetting needed, which I was glad for, I didn't think I would've been able to do that to this kid without it really hitting me hard. I was still growing my skin. Kids were always the hardest but some of them touched us all differently, Matthew was one for me.

We settled back into the exam room and I helped Matthew hop up onto the chair. I reached up behind me in the cabinet to get rolls of cotton down and put them on the table next to Matthew. He didn't even flinch. So I signaled up to the nurse that had followed me in to get things ready for the casting. It seemed we had a breakthrough.

"So when Annie comes home from school do you go get her all by yourself?" He shook his head.

"Mom helps. I sit on the stairs in our yard and Mom gets to sit on the porch. That way I don't gets stolen or anything bad. But I don't let her come down with me cause I'm a big boy now."

"That sounds like a smart idea."

"Alright kiddo, want me to explain what's going on right now?" he nodded. "So Step 1 after you fell was coming here. Step 2 was taking the X-Ray pictures of your arm. Step 3 is fixing your arm so you can't go hurting it again till it's healed all the way." He scrunched up his face quite a bit. I thought I had him, but that face might mean trouble.

"So how do we fix a break." Excellent. He didn't miss his cue, I loved this kid.

"Well, first you get to pick out your favorite color. Then we wrap your arm in cotton. Then we get these strips of cloth wet and start wrapping them around your arm till it's all white. Once that's on, we put the layer with your favorite color on it. You gotta let the whole thing dry so it'll be hard and it's called a cast. It'll protect your arm and hold it still while your bone heals. You know how when you get a scrape or cut it takes a little while for it to heal. You get a scab and then the skin grows back together?" He nods. "Well something like that is happening inside your arm, but we have to keep it safe for a little bit while the bones grow back together."

"Dat's super cool" One of the nurses was right on cue and walked in with the tray of plaster and water.

"So Matthew, have you thought about what color you'd like your cast to be?" he bunched up his face and bit his lip hard.

"Ummmm, can I have green Dr. Edward?"

"Sure thing. Let's sit your down on Mom's lap and let's get this show on the road so you can get back to Annie soon and she won't be worried. You'll have a green arm to show her when you get home."

"Awesome!"

I got to work and Matthew just laughed. He said he was gonna have the biggest arm of anybody he knew, even his uncle who wrestles. He started calling it his Hulk arm and was quite excited to show it off to all the nurses he saw on his way out. I hope I end up with kids that curious and excitable and fun. Wait, was I seriously thinking about kids? I'm a guy and not even dating anybody seriously. This has gotta stop. Back to reality. Not too much later Matthew was all set and we were waving goodbye as I have his mom follow-up instructions.

I looked down at my watched and realized it was time to clock out and head out to the courts. So that's exactly what I did. I changed into my gym clothes and ran out to my car. It wasn't that far really but traffic was especially bitchy so I ended up getting to the castle just before start time. I grabbed a ball, threw on my iPod and chose my "Running" playlist tucking the player in the little pocket in the back of my shorts. I warmed up my arms throwing the ball down at the ground and letting it bounce high.

Both arms together. The one arm, the other. When they were pretty loose I found a solid wall without too many obstructions and started serving against it. After about a dozen serves Alice and Jasper showed up and started their warm-up. Then I switched over to bump with myself for a while till they signaled they were ready and headed over to join me for a 3-way pepper. Angela and Ben showed up then Rose and Emmett. Soon enough the ref blows his whistle to start the hitting drill. Alice looks over to the sidelines and the door then yells to Rose.

"Hey, where's Bells? Shouldn't she be here by now? Aren't they done at the house yet?" My ears picked up. I'd gotten so into the pounding of the ball and the beats in my ears that I'd forgotten about meeting the infamous Bella.

"Almost. Andy was just showing her how to use the whole security system." Security? She was quick to install it, was she just a Nervous Nelly? "She was gonna try to head out when they were done if she could but I told her to make sure they know how to use the system well so everybody feels good." Everybody? "It's a pretty complicated system so I don't know how long it'll take to show them the ins and outs. I figure we'd call her when we were done here if she didn't make it and see if we needed to have another sleep over." I jerked my head up at this. Rose didn't usually volunteer for the sleepovers, and Alice wasn't squealing and jumping around like a Mexican Jumping Bean. And seriously, what the fuck was this talk about security system? So of course, I opened my big fat mouth.

"Wait, security? Sleep over? What the hell is going on? Is everything OK?" I asked. Em was closest and looked over at me with a look I'd only seen in his eyes once before. It was the time I met him at the door of Rose's apartment after she'd just hurt her knee. He didn't say anything at first so I just waited. He seemed to be trying to figure out how to tell me and nobody else wanted to jump right in and help.

"Ed dude, the last few days have been kinda rough. Bells and Charlotte were attacked yesterday and we've been spending a lot of time with them for their and our peace of mind. We all stayed with them last night. They were pretty shaken up, especially Charlotte. Bells seems to be OK but I'm thinking she's actually putting on a bit of a brave face."

"When you say attacked, what exactly do you mean?" On one hand I didn't want to know, but I did. Em didn't throw those words around lightly. He may be a jokester but he knew when to be serious and when not to care.

"In a nutshell, the girls were physically assaulted, mostly Charlotte actually. They were unpacking the car and a pair of thieves didn't run when they walked up on them trying to steal the stereo and such. One of them ended up launching the stereo at Charlotte's head. The subsequent head wound, mixed with a decent dose of, what's it called again Rose?" He looked over to Rosalie with pleading eyes.

"Nosocomephobia." A fear of hospitals. It can be fairly minimal, can be substantial. Usually needs to be dealt with using a good set of kid gloves.

"Yeah, that. Well, it meant Bella had a big job talking Charlotte into going to the hospital even though she was holding Charlotte's head together with her own two hands."

"So physically everybody's OK now?"

"A couple knights in shining armor, an excellent ER nurse and a painting party with booty shakin music and some actual booty shakin later, thanks to yours truly, yeah, they're OK. They're not back to normal. Definitely still shaken, but it'll get better and better."

"Emotionally/mentally?"

"Yet to be determined really. Bell's won't want to be coddled, but Charlotte's spooked for sure. The security system is huge piece of mind for them and for me." He turned to look at everybody else. "For all of us really." I looked over to Alice and Rose who had their arms around each other's waists and their heads touching. "I think we're just going to try and make things as normal as possible for them, but still."

I nodded in understanding. I might not know these girls but I knew our girls. Alice and Rose loved Bella and now they loved Charlotte, or at least they were starting to if they didn't there already. I just didn't know what to say next so I just stood there. There was the sound of balls bouncing around us but nobody spoke. Finally. Rose broke the silence.

"Come on guys. Let's play. If Bella gets here, great. If not, we'll check on them before we head home. We can only do so much at the moment and number one on that list at the moment is to kick some ass. Any qualms or questions?" She looked around making eye contact with each of us in turn. Not one of us backed down. "Alright. Jazz set for us. Let's go people. Grabs balls and make this good. I want to report good things and I want in that tournament, do you hear me?" We all nodded and went to positions.

We got through the hitting drill and then we had a couple minutes to get ready before the game started. Alice and Jasper were getting the line-up ready with Mike and Rose was just staring at the door and her phone. I stepped closer to her and leaned in.

"Rose, for all the smoke you're blowing up our asses about only being able to do so much you still look like a worried mother hen." She closed her eyes and took a slow steady breath. I could almost see her counting in her head.

"I'm worried about them Edward. Bella doesn't like to show weakness. I don't want her to hold it in till she breaks. She just moved here, just found out about the house, she's a landlord now, she got jumped in the alley of that very same house, and now she's there learning all about the security system and I've never seen a system like this one. Eli musta been pretty freaked when he called to arrange everything. She's been the responsible party for so long and she came here to stop feeling responsible and now I know she's feeling responsible for what happened to Charlotte. And I know Bella hasn't said anything but I'm pretty sure her mother died and that's why she's here." I stopped breathing for a minute. How could Rose not know if Bella's mom had died or not? That was huge and Rose was one of Bella's best friends. I couldn't understand how she wouldn't tell her best friends about something like that.

"And then there's Charlotte. She's absolutely terrified of hospitals. Luckily Bella and the new roomie were able to take her to the hospital and take care of her. If Bella wasn't a nurse and he didn't work at the hospital I don't think it would have gone so smoothly. Then to watch Charlotte have to get into a car this morning was gut wrenching. Edward, I don't ever want to see that look on her face again. I really hope having a alarm in her car makes that look go away." Rose stopped to take another couple deep breaths. "I loaned her mine so we could get car alarms installed in both of the girls cars today but still. It takes a lot out of a person to be assaulted on your own turf and try and go back to normal. I'm not sure if I should have let her go to work, but she needs normalcy too. She wasn't back when I had to leave. I'm just worried."

"Rosalie Hale-soon-to-be-McCartney. First, I need you to take another breath. Then I need you to take out the phone and call or text the girls and find out how they're doing because you and I both know that you're not going to have your head on straight, let alone in the game, till you know for sure that they're reasonably OK."

"I can't. I told her I'd keep her updated until she got here or let her know how the games are going. If Charlotte got home and was a mess, Bella knows how to take care of her. She's good at her job and would take excellent care of Char. If she needed help she'd call or just take her in. I'll keep my phone on ring. She's got her own ringtone. No worries. I'm just a momma hen. Let's get this party started."

"Alright, let's go." Alice tells us our places and we get out on the court. I'm between Jasper and Angela. I'm loving hitting middle. I don't do it often anymore but Jasper was not hitting at all today so I was going to play a little middle and a little outside and not surprisingly, we got into a great groove pretty quickly. We win the first game and switch sides but take a quick water break. Damn that felt amazing after the week I'd had. Sure I'd gone to play basketball, but that's a lot of running around and throwing yourself into sweaty bodies. There was a lot more control needed. Compartmentalization. Jazz is looking at the ground and frowning as he swishes his water around in his mouth.

"Hey man, what's up? You're thinking way too hard for a guy who just help us win a game, we've got one more to go. I don't get why the long face is making an appearance. Wanna explain?"

"Sorry man, I just miss hitting and Bella's way better than me. It'd be nice to hit the shit out of something right now. I have a LOT of pent up frustration. It was really really nice having Bella here. I'm just hoping she ends up being able to make it for the rest of the game." I couldn't help but laugh a little. His head snapped to me quickly. "Edward, I'm really not sure why you're laughing, but you're kinda freaking me out."

"Jasper, you're one of the most even-tempered people I've met in my entire life. The thought of you leaning toward violence is laughable." He started clenching his jaws and fists. My chuckles even disappeared. OK, this was getting scary.

"Edward, I really hate to ask if you were listening to Emmett earlier right now, but I have to." My face sobered immediately. SHIT! IDIOT!

"Fuck man, I'm sorry. I'm pretty much the biggest asshole ever right now, it actually slipped my mind for a minute. I got lost in the game for a bit and I just… it's a really bad excuse man, but I haven't been living it. I feel like a complete ass right now Jasper." I sat down and ran my hand through my hair. My friends had been living through some version of their own personal nightmares over the last 2 days and here I was asking Jazz why he wanted to punch something.

"I just don't think either Em or I would've had the restraint the realtor or the new guy had when they showed up."

"They white knights, right?"

"I guess that's one way of looking at them. They tied the guy up with zip ties somebody had in a trunk and waited for the cops while Bella held Charlottes head together. She needed 25 stitches and she'll probably still need surgery on her shoulder. If the guys didn't show up Bella was going to try and bash the guys head in with a brick. She was talking about it in her sleep last night. I was the only one awake. I kept thinking about what had happened and what if it had been Ali. Then Bella started moving and talking about the brick and didn't want to see brains. She kept going on and on. She was pretty freaked out, I talked her down from thrashing and almost screaming down to whimpering. Then I just couldn't fall asleep. This girl doesn't get freaked by much. Ali always said that's why she decided to work the floor for the ER. She gets to see the exciting stuff before anybody gets to close em up or pull things out or anything else. This girl's tough. But this freaked her out." The whistle blew.

"Jazz, want me to set?" He laughed at me, the motherfucker laughed at my ass.

"Nah dude, you might be able to stitch up my face but I don't trust you to set pretty. You've got some of the ugliest sets I've ever seen. I'll set till Bells gets here. If she does I mean. Till then, beat the shit out of the ball for me please." I nodded and we set up the court. Rose walked up.

"I gave the girls a heads up. They're still with Andy so I'm thinking it's not lookin good. I guess we'll see."

"Alight, let's do this for the girls." I said. And we played. We played our old rotation. Jasper setting with Alice opposite when she was in back and Em rotating out. He may be pretty quick but he wasn't all that limber so getting to some of those balls that were well placed and hard hits were just pretty difficult for him to do. And I think everybody can imagine why Alice wasn't a good choice for front row play. Sure in an emergency we could set her off the net but wouldn't you rather have another valid option for a hitter. She would. Considering she could practically walk under the net without ducking, since we were playing on a men's net, she practically danced her way off the court when she was supposed to rotate up front.

After winning the 2nd game, Rose informed Bella and came back to let us know that she told Bella not to bother driving out at this point. We'd been dominating our competition pretty thoroughly so I wasn't too concerned with the outcome and it seemed that neither was anyone else. I'm guessing that most everybody was funneling their frustration over the last couple days events into their play, which I was perfectly OK with if it meant playing hard and well.

We finished up sweeping the floor with our opposition. Though we weren't as cheerful as usual. Angela and Ben had noticed and asked us if we were OK, I'm not sure who filled them in or how much they told them, but they stopped asking or giving anybody strange looks. Sure I was concerned for Bella and Charlotte, but since I hadn't met either of them it was hard to care fully. It's kinda like hearing your best friend's brother you never met has cancer or someone's grandmother is sick or something. You care because the hurt is doing something to your friend. You care because you don't want anybody to be sick and you may even do something to help, but you don't know the person who's sick so it's not your stomach that's wrung up in knots for days worrying about how the sick person is feeling. That's how I felt. Bella and Charlotte's pain and fear and discomfort was knotting the stomachs of my best friends. I cared, but there wasn't a lot I could do just at this moment and I'd still yet to meet this girl, well these girls.

We all headed to our cars after saying goodbye. They all promised they'd call me if I could do anything. Family Dinner night was tomorrow and I told them I wasn't going to be able to come. I had the late shift at the hospital before getting a couple days off. They all said their goodbyes and Alice promised to bring me dinner tomorrow night if I was up for it. I told her always and gave her a kiss on the top of the head. Jasper gave me a playful punch and told me to be weary of stealing his girl. I laughed and climbed into my car. We all drove home and I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking about what had been going on over the last couple days. I was pretty sure I wasn't the only one feeling helpless, but I was pretty sure I was the only one feeling like an ass.


	12. First Day

**AN: SM's characters are coming out to play with me again. I take no ownership for their creation, just their fun and games this time around. Future plotline ideas will come from my insane head too (unless someone send me an idea, but no one has yet)**

Chapter 12 – First Day

**APOV**

As we drove home I thought back to how the day had gone and everything that had led up do it. We'd woken up on air mattresses in Bella's living room. The faint smell of paint surrounding us, surprisingly, I didn't notice the fumes at the time. My focus was on my Bells and the fact that she was holding in a shit-ton of hurt and confusion right now. Last night all I could think about was trying to make her feel loved, cared for and part of a whole. I mean really, I know things haven't been the easiest for her but everyone deserves to feel wanted and she's very much wanted. Back in school we had these ideas for how life would end up. We'd get our nursing degrees and the three of us would take a hospital by storm. Almost like the Three Musketeers really. I always liked the intensity and depth of the ICU; everyone who gets wheeled through those doors is knocking on death's door really. It's a combination of medicine, love, caring and determination that can bring them back. Rose fell in love with Peds and the nursery. Really, every human being under the age of about 14, but she liked the fact that in the NICU we were helping the kids who started off on the wrong foot land on both. Any other pediatric ward you saw a lot more kids with more terminal illnesses or they were in and out. The NICU had more happy endings. Rose wanted the happy endings, she grew to need them. And to top it off, who doesn't have a soft spot for babies? Then there was our Bella. She was always one for the drama of the ER. Not the he said/she said, she stayed away from all that. Bella loved the fact that you absolutely NEVER knew what was going to come in through your doors. You could have a day full of broken bones and stitches or the flu, or you could have a major trauma that took over half the city. You had to be on top of your game, you had to be light on your feet and you had to get shit done with a cool head. Bells could do it.

The day we started school I would have guessed we'd have all wanted other specialties. I know I did. For instance, Rose was always a take-control person, and honestly, she still is. But that's not what we found matters in the end. It's where you feel at home. It's where you do the most good. And at the end of the day, Rose was the nurturer, I had a knack for helping people through really difficult, life-changing situations even through the pain, and Bella, well, Bella can do it all and keep a cool head under pressure. She reads people and knows what they need, be that soothing words or a firm hand. She never got frazzled that I saw. Even during Comps it was like watching Cool Hand Luke. It fucking pissed us off. We're all freaking out and she'd be sitting in the corner calmly reading her index cards sipping a iced latte. It wasn't until later we found out that she went home and cried herself to sleep after every test. That girl had ridiculous test anxiety but you'd have to be a mind-reader to tell.

_I walked out of our midterm the Summer session before my Freshman year at the same time as this leggy blond. We were some of the first to walk out and I really didn't know what to think. I knew what I knew. I was never one that could keep staring at a page until the answer came to me. If I didn't know it that sure as hell wasn't going to help. We headed to our lockers in the student room and as I was reaching to open my locker I heard a soft whimper. I stopped and tilted my head to try and get a better angle on what was going on over the clanging of lockers and people studying for their tests. Apparently I wasn't the only one that heard it. The blond stopped before she got any closer to her locker. We glanced at each other for probably 2 seconds and slowly made our way toward where we thought the sound was coming from. Bathroom stall, cliché, but true. I ducked down and saw enough to see that whoever it was didn't have their jeans down around their ankles. I mimed to the blond that her pants were up. She reached forward to knock and I'm pretty sure my eyes were as big as saucers as her hand made contact with the door. _

"_Occupied." Came a weak response._

"_Isabella, is that you?" The blond asked. Great, these two knew each other. I didn't want to interfere. I started to walk away quietly, but the blond grabbed my arm and held out her hand for me to wait. _

"_Um, I'm sorry, do I know you?"_

"_My name's Rose hun. I'm sorry to intrude on you like this. I'm really not trying to be pushy or anything but I saw you leave that test before us and I recognized your shoes. Not many people are wearing chucks around here. Anyway, we wanted to make you were OK in here. That test was rough. Maybe we could go grab some lunch after that."_

"_Um, who's we." Rose, looked at me expectantly. Duh._

"_Oh, sorry. I'm Alice. I actually walked out of the test at the same time as Rose. We haven't met before so we're all in the same boat here."_

_There was silence. Rose closed her eyes and rested her head on the stall door. There was no sound for a few seconds then we could hear some soft sniffling. _

"_It's Bella." Rose looked up at me with a furrowed brow._

"_What sweetie?" I asked. _

"_My name, it's Bella. I just don't correct the professors."_

"_Alright then. Bella, darling, would you be interested in accompanying the two of us to get the hell out of here and go get something to eat?" There was silence again then the door slowly opened to put us toe to toe with our brown hair and now red-eyed beauty. _

"_Oh Hun, let's get you cleaned up and let's head off campus to grab something? Do you have any more tests today?"_

"_No, tomorrow night."_

"_Me too, how about you Rose?" Rose nodded. _

_We made cleaned Bella up, and headed out to feed our bellies. We helped each other study the whole next day and from then on. We found out at lunch that day that Bella and tests did not get along. She'd been trying for years to figure out a way survive the hurricane and it just wasn't working. There was a calm before the storm but after the test was done, there were tears, vomit and dry heaves until unconsciousness tookover more often than not. We vowed that day to work on helping her figure out a way to survive the tests. One way or another we'd get through it. _

I jumped back to the last 36 hours and I was completely amazed. Bells was so calm, cool and collected the whole god-damn time. Honestly, I think if it had been just her she may have lost it but it wasn't. She had adopted Charlotte in her short time here. And when Bella has someone to take care of everything is different. A switch is turned on in that head of hers and she just gets things done. Don't get me wrong, there's compassion when there needs to be, but all tasks on the To-Do list are checked off with near military precision.

"Hey 'Lil Darlin. What's going in that beautiful head of yours over there? Your eyes are about to bug out of your head."

"I'm sorry Jazzy. I was just thinking of Bella and Charlotte." His face dropped instantly. I felt even worse for bringing it up. It had been in the forefront of all our heads since we all found out about it.

"You're not the only one." He muttered.

"Oh Jazz, I'm so worried about them both. But I'm also so proud of them both. Charlotte's really taking this much better than I could have imagined. She could be in shock or hysterics. She doesn't know any of us from a corner beggar and, well, Bells hasn't said much of anything. I just want everything to be OK. I want to fix it. But I know this one will take time. They both need to just feel safe again."

Jazz didn't say anything as he pulled off into our driveway and killed the engine but made no move to get out of the car at all. He just kept looking into the bushes in front of us.

"Honey, you have no idea how much I want to fix this. And I know Em does too, and this whole thing is killing Rose. Even Edward is getting hit pretty hard after finding out about it today and he hasn't even met the girls. Ali, I need you to understand that we will, as a family, get everyone through this."

"I know baby. And I know that in the great grand scheme of things this is not big at all. I just want to fix Bella. I don't like it when she goes serious and feels like she can't be carefree. She's had the weight of the world on her shoulders for so long helping take care of her mom and I was really hoping we could get her to be a bit more happy and free. Since she's been here she hasn't talked much about her time home at all and I just know something's happened with Renee. We knew it was going to. We didn't want her to do it alone." Jasper reached over to grab my hands and kissed my fingers.

"Darlin', she might have needed to process everything alone. But she came here. She came back to you. She'll open up when she's ready and that will be soon enough. In the mean time, we'll all be there for her for whatever it is she might need; painting, hauling furniture, Friday night dinners, a shoulder to cry on, anything." I leaned up to kiss my love on the cheek and we slowly headed inside. We headed up to get the grime off under cool sprays of water and settled into bed. I kept looking over at my phone and finally Jazz looked at me.

"Go ahead and call or text her. I'm assuming you want to say goodnight and let her know you're here if she needs it." I nodded and tentatively scrolled to Bells name debating calling or texting. I decided the latter was more low-stress for her and just let her know how the game went and that I missed her and loved her and I was really looking forward to family dinner night tomorrow.

I slipped my phone on the bedside table and turned off the light. I tried to settle under the blanket but I was practically ridged. Jasper's arm encircle my waist and I think I almost melted as he kissed the spot right behind my ear. The last thing I remember was whispering 'I love you' and Jaspers arms gripping me tighter.

**BPOV**

I couldn't sleep last night. I was too anxious. It's be a while since I'd felt like I had to impress someone and now it was a lot of someone's and it wasn't in my hometown. This was in a large city, in the hospital two of my best friends and one of their good friends all worked in. And Dr. Cullen had given me a fantastic recommendation to help get me this job. The pressure was on. I knew Mom would be proud of me if she was here but honestly I was terrified.

I looked at the clock.

4:17 AM

SHIT! Why the hell can't I sleep.

I decided to head out for a run to try and get rid of some of my jitters. I reached for my pepper spray out of habit and then remembered that Boston used to have some quirky laws about pepper spray vs Mace. I hadn't remembered to go back and check yet so I after a brief moment of internal deliberation I decided that since pepper spray was more natural it was probably the easier one to get and especially taking my last few days into account if I was accidentally doing something illegal, I'd probably get a lenient sentence or something so I palmed the small canister and took off down the street.

It didn't take long to break into a comfortable rhythm. I hadn't grabbed my ipod this morning because I wanted to see what the ambient noise was going to be like just after 4 in the morning. Back home there was a peace and calmness about that you just couldn't shake. I figured there would still be sounds but I was hoping they wouldn't be too distracting. Either way, I needed to know. I needed to be able to adjust the running mix accordingly. I focused on the road ahead realizing there was a deafening silence, not even the birds were awake yet. There was an occasional breeze that would whip through but nothing of an eerie quality. Just soothing. It was one of the best runs I've had in a while. No thinking about needing to get back soon to suction out mom's tubes or the next feeding or helping her take a bath. No squeezing in a quick hard run before or after work. This was me and the pavement with 2.5 hrs till I had to show up for work. It was exactly what I needed. I let the thoughts drift out of my head and let my mind go blank. Only vaguely following the rules I use to not get lost when I use a new running trail. Eventually the sun started rising and I slowed to a stop. That meant it was close to 6AM, I'd been out here for almost 2 hrs, I needed to head back. I took a quick look around to orient myself and headed home for a much needed shower.

As I jumped out of the steam-infused room I heard my cell phone going off so I hustled out of there and grabbed it. It was Alice.

"Hey Al, what's up? Everything OK?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, I just wanted to see if you wanted a ride in today. I know you won't have your parking pass for the staff lot and I don't want you to have to pay for downtown parking. I don't want you to have to take the train when I can give you a ride and we can spend some time together. I still can't believe you're here and coming to work with me. Oh Bells, I'm soo excited."

"HAHA, hey now, slow down. No worried Al. I'd love a ride. I was actually thinking about the parking pass stuff in the car. I didn't think about any of that when I was talking to Sylvia in HR cause I didn't have a car at that time. When do you want to leave?"

"Um, can you open your door and we'll leave as soon as your ready?"

"Ali! I'm in a damn towel! Damn you! Ok, here's the deal. I'm going to unlock the door then go back upstairs. After you hear the door click give me 10 seconds to get out of line-of-sight so nobody sees anything they shouldn't. Deal?"

"Paranoid"

"No, I don't want to show off the girly bits, deal!" I hung up and headed over unlocking the door then sprinted around the corner to my bedroom. Sylvia had sent me a lot of the paperwork and a pair of scrubs so I could spend a little less time with her my first day. I'd still need to go in and take the HIPAA test, get my hospital ID and take a tour and whatnot, but all the tax paperwork and such would be done. This made both of us very happy.

I walked out of my room to Alice watching the last of the coffee pot drip down as she had all the fixins for coffee and two travel mugs ready. She slid one over to me and we fixed our mugs in silence. Alice flicked her head toward the door. I grabbed my Timbucktu and keys and we headed out setting the alarm and locking the door as we went.

We pulled into the spot in the parking garage about 30 minutes later and I swear I was holding my breath. Alice reached over and patted my leg. I took a huge breath of air.

"C'Mon Bells. Sylvia's waiting and I know Jordan's excited to meet his ER nurse. He was talking last week about how he was ready for the load to be lightened as were the rest of the nurses." I knew Jordan was the Hospital's Head ER Nurse. I was a little surprised that the Head Nurse was a male nurse, but apparently, he was military previously and had a lot of leadership experience. Al and Rose had lots of great things to say about him even though they had never worked directly under him. I took another deep breath and we headed in.

Alice escorted me down to HR so I wouldn't get lost and so no one would question me. It worked out pretty well for us. She waved goodbye when Sylvia's door was in sight and I turned to knock.

Two hours later my paperwork was done and my ID was made and clipped to my scrub top. Sylvia had called Jordan down and we were waiting for him. Sylvia and I talked about some of the hospital features and she was letting me know some of the better vending machines and coffee carts when Jordan arrived. I waved bye and Jordan started my tour. We started at the top of the hospital and worked our way down. He'd given me a map. I'd need to know where the other departments were in case I needed to transport a patient. He filled me in on the emergency codes that were printed on our ID badged and let me know all about adding money to my account for the cafeteria, food carts and gift shop that could be used with my ID badge. We got to the staff lounge and he assigned me a locker so I quickly dropped my crap off happy to not need to lug anything around anymore. I did grab my stethoscope though. He filled me in on where supply closets were and luckily the system was almost exactly the same as at the hospital back home.

We headed back to the nurses' station and he pulled out the schedule to go over the new rotation. He'd put out a new one last week with my hours added so I was with him the first week so I'd get the lay of the land then I'd be rotated in just like everybody else. No evening shifts for a while until we were both confident I knew where everything was and who everybody was so I could pull the extra weight required on those overnight shifts. As we both knew the overnight nurses had to make more calls without the docs and it wasn't fair to put a newbie on those shifts. I might not be fresh out of school but I was new to this hospital. I didn't know who the attending or residents were or which area hospitals were set up for which specialty procedures that we might not be or who our social services contacts were. The important things for the nurses to really get in there and know. I'd get there, but I wasn't there yet.

Just as we were wrapped up about the schedules I saw a face a recognized from last week walking out the front doors in street clothes. The nurse from the day Peter and I brought Charlotte in.

"Oh, Jordan, I'm not sure if you heard anything about this or not but I feel I should definitely tell you. Hopefully it doesn't put you or the hospital in an awkward position. I was actually here last week and assisted in the treatment of a friend who happens to be one of my tenants with the help of one of the doctors here who is now one of my tenants. I'm hoping this doesn't cause trouble." He held up a finger and jerked his head over towards a family waiting room that wasn't being used. We walked in and he closed the door.

"Bella, I'm guessing this is the incident involving Dr. Jackson and a woman named Charlotte Harris?" I nodded. "That's what I thought. Christina, the nurse who walked in expecting to work on her that day already came to me and reported the situation, as did Peter. He wanted to make sure that the incident wasn't going to affect your employment."

"On one hand I'm afraid to ask, but on the other hand I'm still here." Jordan laughed at me.

"Yes you are. First of all your recommendations from both your school and from your previous employment were stellar and, this does not leave this room, but Christina's have been lacking a bit in many respects. Don't get me wrong, she's a good nurse, but she doesn't go the extra mile and doesn't have that heart of gold we hold so near and dear." I chucked at that. Here's the big broad black man talking about things being held near and dear to our hearts.

"I'm gonna be straight with you Bella, cause I like you. 1) I do like you. I get a good feeling about you and I've only gotten that a few times and those are some of my best nurses so I'm probably going to be willing to give you a little more slack than I normally would, don't hang yourself with it. 2) I've been having trouble with Christina. She's not ready to lose her job but she's a pain in my side. 3) Peter said he made sure to make sure you didn't do any of the actual medical work just in case. I trust him. I don't get to see him much down here in The Pit but when I do see him he's one of the good docs that doesn't treat the nurses like lesser human beings like so many others. 4) I wouldn't go around telling anybody that Peter's living in your house, even if he is a tenant. I told him the same thing. Make up secret names, lies, whatever, but don't let on that you live in the same house, no matter how benign. You two are both young and single and some people around here will let that rumor spread like fire.

Now. On that note. I want you here. I want your butt working The Pit for me. I want to train you to know where everything is and who every important person is. I know you were working a small-time hospital before but I know some of your old supervisors from school and they all agree that you could be fantastic in a larger ER like mine. I want you working with me in the beginning so I can show you where everything is and I will be giving you your wings as soon as I possibly can. I know you've got a knack for calming patients down so I'm gonna tell you right now, if you DON'T butt in and work your magic I'm gonna be pissed. If we get an emergency call in 2 minutes or a 3 year old with a broken arm. I want you to watch what's going on around you and pick up where things are, or who like what done how while you're doing your own Bella Voo-Doo. Got that?" I could only laugh and nod.

"So who told you about the um… "Bella Voo-Doo"? I air quoted.

"That would be the Forks hospital head nurse Joan. As soon as we'd offered you the position and you'd handed in her resignation she called wanted to speak to the ass-hole to stole you away."

"Oh God, I'm so sorry. She was really upset I was leaving. I really didn't think she's cause a stink for you."

"Oh Hun, she didn't cause a problem. She's gonna miss you and she wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was gaining over here. And I think I've got a pretty good idea. Come on. We've got to do the regulation supervision stuff to make sure I can let you on your own ASAP. I have a feeling that stuff'll be pretty quick. I know you were top of your class and doing the work of about 3 nurses at your old hospital. Let's head out to the floor and see what they need."

We spent the rest of the morning doing as many little things as we possibly could. Jordan's theory was two-fold. The more of the little cases we did the quicker they got outta there and also I'd get to see where more of the supplies and equipment were. It worked out pretty well. We headed to lunch around 1 and he showed be where the cafeteria was as well as pointed out the Au Bon Pain and some of the other carts and venders along the way. There were hidden Dunkin Donuts and your mandatory Starbucks around the corner (funny enough, it was across from another DD). We grabbed a couple sandwiches and went reviewed layout and some of the doc's preferences that I'd observed thus far. Luckily I wasn't far off on anything.

We finished our lunch and headed back down for the rest of the afternoon. I used most of the day to shadow Jordan to learn where things were and how they were organized in different places. Who to ask for what and, as he put it, use the Bella Voo-Doo a couple times. Luckily it wasn't anything major. We had an elderly woman come in with a broken foot and a grandchild in tow. Calming them both down and tagging along while Jordan and the Doc assigned to her too control of the details of the situation worked out well. Not to mention, I got to figure out my way to X-ray. I knew that one would come in handy. The doc wasn't sure about me, the newbie, explaining procedures to the kid or grandma really, but Jordan put his hand on the guys shoulder and shook his head. I have to say. That's a big pat on the back on your first day. After we got the two taken care of the doc came over to me and Jordan as we were at the nurses' station.

"I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name." Looking directly at me.

"I'm Bella. Bella Swan." I stuck my hand out and he shook it firmly.

"Steve Wood. I'm sorry I didn't give you much room to work back there. I've seen a lot of new nurses come in here and need a lot more instruction or guidance before I'd ever want them to talk like that to a patient. When I saw you were shadowing Jordan so closely I was a bit concerned that you might be in need of a little extra help. I can see now that I was grossly mistaken. It seems my assumption that you're fresh out of school was also way off mark." I nodded.

"This will be the largest hospital I've worked at but I've been working at a small hospital in Washington for the last 5 years." Jordan was smiling over Dr. Wood's shoulder.

"I see. I was definitely mistaken. So I take it your time with Jordan is a fast track approach?" he asked looking between the two of us. Luckily it was Jordan who answered this one.

"Yeah Steve. She's good, real good. I've got her attached at my hip for now so she figured out where things are and how you jerks like things. Be nice to her though. I don't want her to high-tail it up to maternity or some crap like that. You know how hard it is for me to keep the good ones down here." Dr. Wood laughed and nodded then turned to me.

"I'll pass the word around on the DL to the other ER docs to give you a hand learning the ropes. I don't think they'll have a problem with that if you can get the families as calm as you did with that last one. The patient herself was well on the way to a panic attack let alone the kid. Lately around here that would take a nurse TRYING to calm each one down. If you can do what I just saw you do plus procedures, we'll be well on our way to having a happy ER again and you might be on the favorite list. Anyway. I just wanted to introduce myself and apologize for trying to cut you off earlier. I'll be better in the future, I promise."

"Thanks Dr. Wood, I appreciate it." And he disappeared around eh corner to take care of his next patient.

"I knew you were gonna be good for us down here." Jordan said. I could only laugh and shake my head. "That was exactly what I want you to do. I want you to do your Voo-Doo and then if someone butts in, ignore them. I'll take care of it. Now that Dr. Wood's seen it, he'll back me up, I can guarantee it. And word will get out, trust me."

"Oh, I trust you. Come on, back to work. What's next?" We continued working for the next few hours and then Jordan took me to a locked supply closet to get my standard issue scrubs. Two weeks worth. I was also given instructions on swapping sets out if they became destroyed for whatever reason. Then I was done. I had my schedule for the next two weeks and I was done. I'd be working close to a 9-5 for the rest of the week so Jordan could show me the ropes then next week things could changed. I'd gotten my parking pass from HR this morning and luckily thought to bring a copy of my insurance card that was in I shoulda put in my wallet anyway so I'd have my license plate number and whatnot for hospital security. I got quick directions from Jordan so I could head up and check with Alice and made my way up. I walked in and she was packing her bag. Apparently she'd been done about an hour ago but called down and found out that we were almost through so waiting around finishing up with one of her patients till I was ready. We headed out and I gave her a recount of the day.

**EPOV**

I love sleeping in on Mondays on one hand but on the other, I always feel like I'm missing out on something that everyone else gets to take part in. It was mid afternoon and I was heading in remembering how fast the weekend went. Friday night was Family Dinner night again which I had yet to be able to attend. I was super bummed when I found out they were making Chili. It was late Summer / early Fall really but in my opinion it was never the wrong time for chili. Alice took pity on my though and brought me a late dinner on her and Jasper's way home. Between the perfect spiciness of the chili, which was so colorful and so yummy, and the skillet cornbread I was in heaven then Alice brought out a HUGE container of what looked to be tea. When my eyes got big she said it was sun-tea and it was already sweetened. I was in love with this meal.

'Complements of Bella' She said.

Apparently somebody squealed that I fell in love with sun-teal as a teenager and rarely ever got it now so she made sure to put a couple containers out on Friday to stew while she was at work so they'd be ready for dinner and then saved some to send me at work along with everything else. This girl was fantastic.

I got to go home sometime Saturday morning and wasn't supposed to come in till today but Peter called yesterday morning and said one of him mothers was going into early labor and wanted to know if I wanted to come in and give a hand. He didn't have his own resident because of how new his position was and all but this was getting to be ridiculous. He had more maternity cases than most of the other docs. We'd planning of going to the chief and asking if he might be able to get 'shared custody' of at least me if not both of us that were splitting this OBGYN/Ortho rotation so we'd get more variety and hands on. He was a fantastic teacher and hell, the chief could come watch too. But I wanted the hands on time and he didn't mind having one of us in there. There was no rule against having him have a resident in there, they were just trying to be cautious.

It turned out when I got to the hospital Sunday, Peter had neglected to fill me in that the early labor was for a set of triplets so we were dealing with potential risk factors for that situation and having more hands was not a bad thing. This was great to see, plus, all three little ones landed in the NICU for borderline APGARS and needing to be monitored due to size and all the risks associated with being a multiple (we really didn't expect them to be there for very long) and Rose was on so I got to see her at work with my trio. She was so good with them. I honestly was incredibly happy for Em and was almost more excited for the two of them to start having kids than I think they were. I knew Rose would make an amazing mom and Emmett would be any kids favorite dad. Unfortunately, though, the triplets made me miss the game. The guys said they understood. The sooner I got through this crazy rotation, the better. After this, I was done. I was on full ER duties. I couldn't wait. I missed the gang down there. I missed the pace, the environment, not being called in the middle of the night cause your patient's stats tanked or someone's in labor. I liked leaving work at the office and only getting called in to cover or in major incidents. Not that I don't love my patients but being a doctor is stressful. Seeing illness and death and people in pain takes a lot out of you. It's really really nice to be able to go home and not worry about Mrs. Smith's white cell count is or If Bobby can be taken off the respirator tomorrow or if the John Doe will come out of his coma.

I looked up and realized I'd just parked my car. I hate it when I do that. I've gotta figure out a way to stop thinking so much. This is getting a bit ridiculous. Definitively not the first time this has happened this month. I headed into the Doctors lounge to change and stash my messenger bag. A couple of other docs were in there getting ready to change out shifts. They were talking about some of the nursing staff. Apparently Christina was giving everybody some more trouble. Just being annoying and whiney. Not stepping up to the plate. Not anticipating anything and wasting time dawdling around instead of getting things done. Then we brought on a couple few new hires too. A couple of them were down in the ER and then we had a couple more that were brought on to be scrub nurses. We were all hoping this would ease the obvious nursing shortage we had. We'd still need more but budgets were tight and GOOD nurses were hard to come by. It seemed like the scrub nurses were pretty well experienced from what I was catching. They just needed to get the lay of the land and the only thing that could help that was time. They'd each be working with one of their more experienced predecessors for a while from the sounds of things.

As for the ER though I was confused. It sounded like there were 3 new hires. Two were fresh out of school. We did that at least once a year but it was hard to take too many brand new nurses because they still needed so much extra help. Sure they might know how to put in an IV, draw blood, give meds and whatnot, but you still had to coddle a number of them. Not all of them, but some of them. If you hired a batch that all needed coddling, the hospital had its hands full. It sounded like one of the new hires was more experienced though and doing a really good job. The docs were already planning on fighting for her to be on their cases. She must really be good. I was trying to get a decent idea of which one was the experienced one vs the newbies but they were all short and brunette from the sounds of things. Then Wood surprised me.

"Jackson said she was good, I didn't believe he'd actually worked with her at all since he never goes downstairs but his description was pretty accurate or her bedside manner. I think Jordan calls it Voo-Doo." And then they walked out. Jackson huh, I'd have to bug my dear friend Peter and see if he knew anything about our new nurses. It always pays to be in good with the right nurses. I'll be damned if I didn't know that from the time I was about 8yrs old.

AN: They meet next chapter.


	13. Dun Dun Dun

Chapter 13 – Dun Dun Dun

**EPOV**

I finished changing and headed up to meet Jackson and Bannon. We'd decided to go to the head of maternity and ask if Jackson could be added to the list of attending who were included in this supervisory rotation.

When we got to the nursing station at Maternity, Jackson was already there but Bannon was nowhere to be seen.

"So I hear you know one of the new nurses." I started.

"Yeah"

"She's good apparently."

"That she is." Damn, he was being vague.

"She's an ER nurse, you're an OBGYN."

"Yep." Fucker!

"Cut the crap Jacks, what the hell's going on. How the hell did you get the chance to work with her if she just started working today? Did you know her from before? And what's with this Voo-Doo that I'm hearing about?" He smirked. The bastard smirked at me.

"Dude, you'll just have to see it for yourself. Fact of the matter is she's good. When you do finally get to work with her you'd be smart to remember that. I remember what it was like working down there man. Appreciate her skills and utilize them. Don't bark orders. This is me trying to impart HUGE teaching moment on you, which you will inevitably forget and I will have to remind you again. There is a long-time history of the ER/Trauma Dept/The Pit being a Hell Hole for one BIG reason. It's incredibly stressful. There are people upset and people hurt. The good docs and good nurses get stressed out and burnt out quickly. And it's real easy for an experienced nurse to transfer to a different department and be welcomed with open arms. So don't let yourself or her or any of the rest of the staff down there get burnt out because those patients need you guys!" I just stood there looking at him without knowing what to say.

"Am I really standing in left field?" He blinked a couple times then busted out laughing.

"Sorry man. I know you love the ER. I also know you're good at just about every other department you go to. Here's my theory. There are a few different types of people who like to work down there. There are the ones who like the pace and variety and challenge. There are the ones who like the lack of follow-up. There are the ones who like the blood and guts. There are those who like to be reminded of the humanity and there are those who are just nuts. Oh, and there are those who love a combination of what I just listed. Inevitably, you guys see a lot of death, maybe more than any other department. You definitely deal with a lot of hysterical family right after the incident and you have to be a jack of all trades. This combination leads to the possibility of higher burn-out rate than a lot of other departments. Well… except dentistry. Seriously, who wants to look in mouths all day every day?

Now, some ER physicians are cocky mother fuckers because of the jack of a trades crap. That shit doesn't fly with me. Mark my words, I'll beat the ever-lovin shit out of you." He angrily pointed his finger at my nose. "But then there's the humanity factor. You can embrace it, or ignore it. I tend to see the nurses embrace it more. They have to deal with families hands on a bit more." He looked down.

"Look, you'd be wise to keep it in the back of your mind that you are not God. To answer your question about the new nurse, she's good. I'd like to see her happy here and not want to kick somebody's balls off. She has a way with patients that has been called voo-doo but really you could just chalk it up to being an amazing person and knowing how to calm just about everyone she comes into contact with. And yes, I'm defensive and protective. I heard some of the docs making pretty shitty comments about her earlier and it pissed me off so I'm sorry for the tirade. Here comes Bannon."

I tried to soak in everything that Jacks had just said. There was a lecture about not burning out, talk of respecting the nurses (trust me, I didn't need that lecture), insight into the new nurse and some interesting info about his protectiveness toward her. Voo-Doo nurse couldn't be the girl Jackson was interested in recently could it? I thought he had a thing against dating within the hospital. Maybe he was breaking his rule. Hmm… this conversation left me a lot to think about but right now, he was 100% right, Bannon was here.

"Gentleman." We both nodded and greeted him. "Shall we?"

We headed in with a deep breath at the threshold. The worst the Department Head could do was say no. It would suck, but I felt this would make things go faster and I wanted Jackson on my side.

**BPOV (Thursday)**

The week had gone by fast. I had expected it to inch by actually but after 2 and a half days with Jordan we ended up having a gun-shot wound arrive in the middle of us taking care of a deep hand laceration. Jordan opted to let me stay with the hand laceration while he helped out with the GSW. Numbing, sutures, follow-up paperwork. I was flying solo with one of the ER docs, Dr. Lane. The docs had all been very understanding, which was a HUGE plus. Being the new kid can suck. Knowing HOW to do everything, but not necessarily knowing WHERE everything is. Luckily all the rooms were set up the same and everything was coded for ease of use. The worst thing to get used to was the paperwork. Luckily, we had some great charge nurses. Raine was on with me yesterday when I went impromptu solo. As we finished up with Mr. Laceration, I excused myself to go grab paperwork as Dr. Lane was finishing the last stitches I headed to the nurses' station to get aftercare and discharge paperwork. Raine was a Goddess. She motioned me over.

"_I saw Jordan fly out when the GSW came in. You're on your first solo now." I nodded. "How'd it go in there?"_

"_Not bad. I think I just need to grab aftercare and discharge papers."_

"_Rachel's doing the final stitching now?" I nodded again._

"_Good timing. I hate it when the newbies wait. Slows everything down."_

"_She motioned that she had everything about halfway through. I do want to bring in info for PT consult just in case though." Raine raised her eyebrow at me and started smiling. _

"_Good girl. Let's go grab all your paperwork. Do you remember where aftercare is?" She helped me grab everything I might need and fill in what I could prior to heading back in, showing me one more time where to grab patient chart information if the chart was in the room with the patient or physician. I have to say, I was loving Electronic Medical Records. We did a once over and she handed it all to me. I saluted and headed back in. _

"_Alright sir. You need to keep the stitches dry wrapped if you're going to be outside and whatnot. It's OK to let everything air out though." I handed over the aftercare instruction sheet to Dr. Lane."Here's the aftercare sheet with Do's and Don'ts and a number to call if one of these things here happens. Now, we'd like to see you back in 7-10 days to recheck your hand and take some of these stitches out. It is possible a few of these may have to stay in a little longer though. You definitely did a number to your hand." _

_I separated the discharge papers from the PT consult papers and began to hand them to Dr. Lane. As she reached for them she looked up at me quizzically. I tried to shrug and use my facial expressions to relay that I wasn't sure I she wanted it or not. She gave a small smile and nodded. _

"_I'd like to get you scheduled for a follow-up to get the stitches taken out either here or at your primary care physician and I'd also like to get you in for a consult with the physical therapy department in about 3 weeks. That should give your hand enough time to heal to the point they'll have a good idea of what range of motion your still have. As we discussed, it looks like the knife you were using nicked the tendons in a couple of your fingers and though you still have mobility I'd like them to give you range of motion and strengthening exercises."_

"_Yes Ma'am." _

"_And here's a prescription for some pain medications. Please fill it as soon as possible. The Novocain will be wearing off in the next couple hours. Here are your discharge papers. I'll show you towards check-out." Dr. Lane got up with our patient and I began to clean up the exam room so we could turn it over for the next patient. _

_As I was wheeling the used suture tray out Dr. Lane asked me to come chat with her when I was done taking care of it. So I went to go dispose of biohazards and send the tools to sanitization then headed back. _

"_You wanted to see me Dr. Lane?"_

"_Bella, please call me Rachel." I nodded. "I just wanted to be clear that I appreciate your forethought on the PT consult. I wanted you to understand my reaction was not intended to be negative. I'm not used to most of our nursing staff making those… how should I put it... anticipations. Especially from someone who hasn't been here very long. I want you to understand I did not mind in the least."_

"_Thank you Dr. Um… I mean Rachel."_

"_BTW Bella, It didn't escape my notice that Jordan bailed. I also didn't worry about that. I know the Charge Nurses like you so they'll help you make sure the paperwork is right and all till you get a better handle on our system, but that was a good call. And I know Raine wouldn't have given you that one on her own. She like you but she still would have made you work for it. As far as I'm concerned you don't need to be on Jordan's hip anymore. I know we'll help you get through finding things if you don't know where they are or the paperwork. But you're good. I'll take ya anyday." I couldn't help but smile. _

"_Thanks Rachel."_

"_Let's get back to work." She smiled. _

It was now about 24 hours later. Jordan and I weren't attached at the hip but he was around. Betts was the Charge Nurse we had today. She was helping me out with all my paperwork, double-checking everything to make sure all T's were crossed and I's were dotted. It was almost 5 o'clock and Jordan stopped right next to me with a stack of charts I could have used as a pillow.

"Is that you over there Jordan?" He sighed and slammed his head into his stack of charts.

"No, my name is not Jordan. I'm not a nurse. I don't work here." Betts looked at me and ran around the desk to start giving him a mini massage.

"Oh honey, you'd better not stop. I'll divorce my wife, I'll make you divorce your hubby. But damn-it, you'd better not stop." Betts shook her head and laughed.

"Jordan, do we want to know what's been going on?"

"I'm REALLY glad you're here Bella. And I'm even more glad that you're able to spread your wings. I don't mind helping you at all, but I'm being overrun with shit at the moment. I need some tequila and I need it now."

"Jordan, is there anything in this stack that I can help with. Cases to see, people to talk to, anything?" He lifted his head and mentally ran through each of the files. Then looked up at the clock.

"Bella, it's 4:20. You're supposed to leave at 5. I can't guarantee any of these will be done by 5."

"Jordan, the patients don't get to go home at 5 either. What do you have for me?" He looked apprehensive. "Jordan" I gave him my best mommy look, complete with hands on hips.

"Damn, you're too good at that. I really can't wait till you decide to have kids. They're already screwed. Alright." He pulled out a chart from the center and held it out for me. "This is our resident Pain-In-The-Ass, Mrs. Horror." By eyes bulged. "I'm serious. That's really her name. And actually, between the Bella-Voo-Doo and that Mom-Look, BTW, I have no idea where you picked that up since you're not a mom that I'm aware of, but you might just be perfect for this. She's here complaining of a Migraine. Now, she was diagnosed with them years ago, but twice a week, she's in here with various headache symptoms and she can't stay with 1 type of treatment for even a week. We can't get her to stop coming to the ER, and she always asks for something strong to take the pain away." I couldn't help but smirk.

Betts hit Jordan on the shoulder.

"Woman, what in the blue-bla…" she just pointed at me. "Bella, why are you laughing about this, Mrs. Horror is just about our worst nightmare."

"Out of curiosity, do any of the ER staff have Migraines?" Betts and Jordan looked at each other and slowly shook their heads.

"I don't think so, why?"

"I do. They blow. She might be a drama-queen and a pain in the ass, but more than likely nobody has given her much good information about them. Most neurologists don't know jack about them. Medication use can be iffy. And once you've got them, you've got them for life most often. Some women I know prefer childbirth to have a bad migraine."

"Please tell me you're joking" Jordan's facial expression could only be described as one of pure terror.

"I'm afraid not. As you've noted, I don't have kids so I can't agree or disagree with that statement but I can say that when a bad one hits, they're absolutely debilitating. She may be a drama queen, but likely, no one has really given her much good information and she doesn't feel like anyone's listening. So, what room is she in?"

"2B"

"I'll be back later, do me a favor and let the doc on rotation know it might be a while. I'm going to take my time on this one. Hopefully I can get her visits reduced."

"Sure thing and PLEASE." I walked over to 2B and knocked. I entered and started the typical vitals and reason for visit. Then I sat down.

"Mrs. Horror, I see that the reason for today's visit is headaches, can you explain that a little for me?"

"Well, headache is the biggest understatement I've ever heard. It's like a trainwreck on repeat. But, it's only on one side of my damned head. Everything makes it worse. Lights, sounds, smells, movement. It makes me want to rip the skin off the back of my head to ease some of the tension."

"How long has this been going on?"

"24 years"

"How about this episode? When did it start?"

"Very early this morning, around 4am"

"Where is the pain located?"

"At the base of my skull and the left side over the ear. Left eye is throbbing."

"Any vomiting?"

"No, I don't get vomiting often, nausea and dizziness, yes, but not actual throwing up."

"Did you consume any triggers yesterday?"

"Triggers?"

"Are you aware of what your triggers may be?"

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"OK, what about medication, what medication have you taken?"

"I've thrown all of my medication away. None of it works."

"So you've taken nothing for this episode thus far?"

"No. I don't understand where you're going with this line of questioning young lady."

"Mrs. Horror, if you'd just bear with me for a few more questions, I can explain quite a bit more."

"Well then." She huffed as she crossed her arms and sat back.

"How often are you getting the episodes?"

"About 4 times a week."

"And I see about twice a week, for the last 4 or so months you've felt the pain or dizziness has been enough to bring you to the Emergency Room?"

"Obviously! If you're going to continue to ask be asinine questions, I'm going to insist on a new nurse and to see the physician now."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Horror, all of our other nurses are currently with other patients and there is quite a long wait if I added you to the end of the line now."

"I will NOT go to the end of the line. I've been here for over 3 hours already and I DEMAND to see a physician NOW!"

"Mrs. Horror, you are currently getting yourself into a highly agitated state in which your blood pressure is rising. The pounding in your eye is increasing and the discomfort of the fluorescent lights and the antiseptic is making you more nauseous."

"Gasp" I stood up and wet some paper towels for her.

"Now I highly suggest you sit back and take some deep breaths. I would also suggest placing these paper towels on your neck to try and cool yourself off and make the nausea calm down some. When you're ready I'd be happy to continue."

"How do you know all of this? You are a nurse aren't you?"

"Yes, and while I will try not to take that as an insult, I will also break some rules right now and inform you that I also suffer from migraines so I understand them both as a patient and as a medical professional. So, if you want to sit here and cause your migraine to get worse I will happily let you but realize that I will suggest that the physicians not continue to treat you if you are unwilling to listen to medical advice."

"You wouldn't!"

"Mrs. Horror. In the months since you started coming here, how many Doctors and nurses have you seen? And how many different treatment plans have you begun? And what has actually worked? Ask yourself those questions. It has become obvious to me that thus far, the medical profession has failed you. You have yet to meet anyone who has introduced you to the most basic building block of migraine treatment and for that I feel sorry for you. I would like to help but you have to be willing to listen. If you are not willing, I will have to note in your chart that you are a prescription seeker and that will effectively end your treatment options. This is very simple Mrs. Horror, just listen and absorb. Let me know if you're ready to proceed or if I leave and leave a note in your chart." And I sat and waited. She huffed and complained for about 4 minutes before she looked at me with fire in her eyes.

"Will you PLEASE turn off the fucking lights and explain these stupid triggers to me." I turned to flip off the lights and smiled to myself. Then I sat down and began explaining everything.

Six pm rolled around and I had just finished charting in Mrs. Horror's chart. The doc pretty much left everything to me except for the referral to out neurology department which Mrs. Horror was unwilling to use previously. I was given a huge pat on the back for that. She left with instructions on how to keep a trigger-log and what potential triggers there might be. She wasn't prescribed any medication for now but told to use Excedrin Migraine in addition to the trigger log and food substitution or just avoiding entirely. She understood this was going to be a process and that if I saw her back in the ER over the next few months I was going to kick her out for not following protocol. She eventually thanked me for spending the time with her and left with an appointment with Neuro. Jordan was extremely pleased. I really only talked to her but I got her to listen where no one else had been able to get through to her before.

I finished her note, waved a quick bye to Jordan and hauled ass to my truck. I really needed to come up with a name for this thing. It was awkward enough just referring to it as car/SUV or truck. I mean, technically it was an SUV but most people call then cars but this one definitely drove more like a truck. I just needed to name it and be dome.

The game was going to start soon and I was super thankful I had decided early that it would be impossible to head home then to the game most Thursdays. There were bathrooms there that were just fine to change in.

Traffic was alright but I wasn't going to get there for warm-ups. I was hoping I'd make it for the start of the game but I wasn't sure. I called Rose.

"Hey Bells, where are you? Jasper's starting to get antsy."

"I'm on my way, I got caught up at the hospital with a difficult patient. But I'll be there soon. Wanna set up a rotation so I can sub in with somebody? Or I can jump in during the second game."

"No no no, we'll fix the rotation. Jasper will set a 5-1 from opposite position for now. Ben's in town this week so we'll have him play your position and you'll switch in for him when you get here. Jasper's looking forward to hitting so this'll be good. Do you want to run a 5-1 or a 6-2 when you get here?"

"Whichever. Ask Jasper. Just let me know and I'll go with it, if we run 6-2, ask the team if they wan 3 up or 3 back though. I know we'd play 3 up but not everybody does that. I want as little confusion as possible."

"Will do, drive safe, see you in a few."

"Bye, Love n Hugs."

"Love n Hugs."

**EPOV (Thursday)**

My week was boring. Luckily we'd gotten the OK for Jackson to become a supervisor to Sinclair and myself. This was going to make things a lot easier. He was a busy OB/GYN so he could definitely add more births to our rotations. He knew he had some high risk and multiples coming up so I was thrilled and Sinclair was cool with everything when he found out.

As far as this week had gone, we'd had a couple normal run-of-the-mill births. Well, that is if you can call any birth run-of-the-mill. I was picking up on the fact that there were some typical insults and swears that went on between mother and father but then again, there was always room for creativity. I also had a few ortho cases. An elderly woman with a broken hip, a kid with a broken collar bone from a football game and a few more broken bones.

I did keep hearing about the voo-doo nurse. I'd yet to hear her name but the only people that had anything bad to say were a couple of the nurses whose work isn't all that fantastic to begin with. We all knew that the motivating factor with that conversation was. One of these days I'd meet her. And speaking of meeting people, today was Thursday. This meant we had a volleyball game. I hadn't gotten over to play basketball much this week. I'd gotten to lift and run some but no games. I liked playing various sports. This was part of my competitive spirit. I needed to do this to feel like I was part of a team, or a well-oiled machine as Emmett sometimes liked to call it. I guess that's one of the reasons I like the ER, everything happens so far you really have to work together very well to get things done right. You worked in a team everywhere else but the ER was different.

I was scheduled to leave around 5pm today. That would give me enough time to change and get to the castle in plenty of time for warm-ups. Lucky, Thursday was my ortho day most of the time and Stall knew I played in the league and was more than happy to let me out on time Thursday nights. I wasn't going to argue.

Today we had a consult with a female college basketball player with an ACL injury. She'd heard the infamous 'pop' about 3 weeks ago and had been on crutches and in an immobilizer since. Unfortunately the inflammation was too great to get a good idea of how extensive the damage was at the time. When we saw her today we did an MRI of her knee and the scans confirmed the tear. Even after surgery, her chances of playing basketball in college were slim as she was a Junior but we could get her walking and eventually running again after PT and whatnot. We sat down to have the tearful conversation with her about the injury and repair options and subsequent outcome. I was glad she brought a family member with her. Her brother had flown in from out of town to help her out for a little while and be there through the Dr's visit. This reminded me so much of when Em and I met Rose, even though it was a slightly different injury and Rose was done playing college sports, the devastation was still clear.

"Stephy, I know this sucks, but really what options do you have hun. Do you wanna be a gimp on crutches for the rest of your life?" the brother asked her. She shook her head. "Alright, so can we go ahead and schedule the surgery and we'll get you through that and PT and get your back to kicking my ass, cause this whole thing of you needing me to do things for you is kinda weirding me out. WANTING me to wait on you hand and foot is one thing, NEEDING it is something else all together." She nodded and turned to us.

"Dr. Stall, what do I need to do to schedule the surgery?"

"Well I'll go get one of our surgery schedulers here in a minute. I understand you've got a break coming up for school soon?" She nodded. " Good, lets see if we can schedule it over your break so you'll have time to recover without missing out on school-work and then we'll talk about the PT schedule at one of your post-op appointments." Stephy nodded and we stepped out and headed toward surgery scheduling. Stall looked down at her watch.

"Alright Kid, head out. You've got a game tonight and I wanna hear all about how you kicked some ass when I see you next."

"You got it. Have a good night."

I went to drop off my labcoat and stethoscope in the doctors lounge and headed to my car. Have I mentioned I HATE 5 o'clock rush-hour. Oh, I didn't… well, I HATE it. I might have a little bit of road rage. Surprisingly, Breaking Benjamin's Phobia has been in my CD player for just such instances and it somehow calms me.

I arrived at The Castle after going through almost the entire CD and headed in to change and start warming up. Slowly my team arrived and it was inching toward the start time but the new girl wasn't here yet. Even Ben was here and he travels a ton with his job so it's hit or miss whether he'll be in at all. Jasper was warming up his hands and I want over to say hey.

"So I thought our new friend was supposed to be here to help relieve some of the pressure from you so you could hit?"

"She IS supposed to be here. I'm getting a little worried. She didn't mention to anyone that she wouldn't be here. I was looking forward to hitting. Plus, I wanna see how well the two of you work together." I couldn't help but smirk at that.

"Seriously dude? I'm a ball-pounding god! If she can get it up, I can knock it down."

"I have no worries about that." I heard him mumble.

"So with everybody here, what's the rotation?"

"Nor sure, I'm gonna let Rose and Al worry about that. They know our strengths and weaknesses pretty well. They'll set us up for a good start."

"Hey Guys, get your asses over here, we've gotta do the line-up." Alice yelled. We both grabbed our balls and headed over to the little pow-wow. Rose was hanging up the phone. She threw it in her bag and came over.

"I'm guessing she's on her way?" Al asked. Rose nodded. " 5-1 or 6-2?"

"She said whatever Jazz wanted." We all turned to look at him.

"Is she going to make it in time for the start?" Jazz asked Rose.

"She's not sure, she's on the way, she left late after getting stuck with a difficult patient."

"OK, so let's assume we're starting with a 5-1 with me setting, then she jumps in opposite me. It'd probably be better to run a 6-2 for at least a little while since we'll all be in full-on game mode. We can switch to a 5-1 with Bella later if we want. We'll see how we feel." He said.

"Sounds good. OK, to start off lets have Jasper right front, Emmett middle front, Angela left front. Ben, left back and Bella will sub in for you when she gets here. Edward middle back, and Mike right back. I'm gonna stick on the sidelines for now and make sure that everybody gets the rotation and we've got smooth transitioning. Alice will Libero as usual, just remember, she needs to be available for Emmett. None of us want him playing back-row. Now, since we may very well end up playing a 6-2 for a while we need to decide if we're going to play 3 up or 3 back. Any preferences?" She asked. I kept my mouth shut. I'd play whatever they wanted me to play really.

"I vote for the 3 up unless back row's having issues. We can always sent Alice in repeatedly but we've got a pretty good defensive line-up." Voted Angela.

"I agree" nodded Ben and Mike. Rose looked around to everybody else. Nods all around.

"OK, 5-1 to start till Bells gets here, then we run a 6-2 as 3 up unless we start sucking. I don't expect sucking so I wanna see a strong front line. I want the power, do you people hear me?" Nods all around. "Any questions?" Rose looked around.

I didn't want to say anything but I was really nervous. "Um yeah. I know you guys have all played with Bella. Does she have certain sets she sticks with? I wanna be prepared since I'll be next to her." Em snorted. Mother fucker. Thankfully Jazz answered.

"Nah man, she'll probably start you off with some 32's or 33's till the two of you feel each other out." Another snort "but feel free to ask her for what you want and to push the limits. She's real good man. She's better than I am. She'll send things your way you've never seen before if you let her." I nodded but now Em was on the floor rolling.

"Oh Jazzy, why didn't you tell us you swung both ways. No wonder Alice is wound like a spring."

"Idiot" Seven voices proclaimed as we walked toward the court for warm-ups.

"What? Guys? Come on, that was Funny!" Em protested.

We pushed our way through the serve and hitting drills with ease. The ref blew the whistle to get set-up for game-play and there was still no sign of Bella.

"Alright troops, line-up the way we discussed earlier. Bella should be here soon, we'll sub her in as soon as she does. Look to me or Alice if you have questions about the rotation or switch protocols as we go. Got it?" Everybody nodded and we headed out.

We set up in a 3 man cup formation for serve receive with Jazz squatting down hand up between center and right front ready for short or set. Angela was slightly off the net right in front of the ten-foot line over on the left hand side in case of a short serve that Jazz couldn't reach and Emmett was up at the net trying not to move and block our view. Not an easy task when you're 6'4" and as broad as a barn. We were down and ready when the chick from the other side served with a crazy side-arm serve. The ball went right to Mike who had a fairly decent receive up to Jazz. Jazz went for a nice easy outside set to Angela who opted to hit line. And as she squared up, Ben tightened up behind, I shifted left as did Mike and Em squared to Angela in case of the block. They only had a 1-man block which got a piece of it but barely deflected the ball at all. Their right back dug the ball up and we were off and running. The other team, I think they were called The Grizzlies, went with the middle hit, and Em, Angela and Jazz were ready for them with a triple block. Those bears had no chance of getting it through that roof. The bar was being set, I couldn't help but grin. We rotated and Jazz was up for serve. I knew this meant some more interesting playing. I wasn't really used to playing a 5-1 rotation. When I'd played in gym in HS or Rec college leagues we always had someone in the front row set. I was definitely still getting used to this style of play. I also knew that the girls were there to help us through. They wanted to win just as much as I did. And Rose was actually a really good coach. For all her periodic bitchiness, she knew the game, no question about that and she knew how to explain things so you got it.

I was snapped out of my mini-daydream by Alice hissing, "Edward, Mike, remember to split the back." We repositioned ourselves slightly and got set for Jazz's serve. We had a few good rally's back and forth, the score was 7-4, our team, The Machine was ahead. All of the sudden Alice squealed and we all looked up. There was this rich chocolaty, mahogany streak rushing around the outside of the gym only when it stopped did I notice it was a girl, no woman just a few inches taller than Alice. Fairly petite but athletic for sure. Fucking sexy legs and arms. Suddenly a hand clamped me on the shoulder. I turned my head.

"Son, I need you to get your head in the game. I know you're a little worried about Bella setting for you but think of it this way. We're running a 6-2 with 3 up. That means I'll still be setting you most of the time till we switch over to a 5-1 with Bells taking the helm. It'll give you a chance to see what she can do and her a chance to see what you can do. No worries. Let's go."

We regrouped and got set. I was left front now and Ben had just finished serving so Bella swapped in for him. Great, this was the one rotation in our current set-up where Bella would possibly be setting me. I looked at Jazz and he smiled his calming smile at me. We went to go set up for serve receive but I was at a loss. Looking around everybody seemed to know where to go. I just stood there like an idiot.

Suddenly there was a spark at my left side; I looked down to see a small hand. "Hey Sparky, you look like you've seen a ghost. Rose said you haven't run a 6-2 before right?" she asked me. I shook my head. "K, you're gonna stack up at the net with me. You're playing middle?" her eyes inquired. I nodded. "As soon as the ball's served, I'll break toward setting position, you break right BEHIND me but watch the ball. Whatever you do, don't cross in front of me. I WILL knock you down." I smirked at that one. Seriously, this chick was over a foot shorter than me and I had at least 50 lbs on her. There was no way she was going to knock me down, but I wasn't going to try and get in her way anyway. I wanted this to work. I wanted the rotation to make sense.

She led me up to the net and I tried to stay back behind her. I felt the spark again on my ribs and looked down. "Sparky, you've gotta stop moving. You've gotta be stacked in front of me or they can call us for being out of rotation. I'm back row, you're front."

"Shit, sorry. I didn't think of that." The other team's server lined up and bounced the ball. Lil' Bit called 'Up' and got down and ready. The ball was served and she sprinted the couple feet over to the spot right between middle and right. She was so fast, I'm actually kinda embarrassed that I just stood there to watch. All of the sudden, Jasper was at my side throwing me toward the middle. Luckily, Bella either saw what was going on or figured I'd fuck up and set Mike who was already in decent position. Mike's hit was blocked but it bounced out off the touch and was set up for an easy 1-2-3. It was set up to their outside and Jazz and I went up for the double-block. As we went down to high-five Bella was right on our asses. I was sooo not confortable with that. She must have sensed my unease.

"Where do you think the balls gonna go if it melts through your fingers, Sparks? If you take enough off of it, it's mine. Oh, not back stacking for your first go. Next time remember to move to your position, it'd be nice to have an outside and middle option on that serve receive." Made sense. Still wasn't thrilled to have anybody that close to my ass when I turned around but she'd been doing this longer than me.

I moved to serve. Bella was still setting but to Mike, Jazz and Em. Angela and I were splitting the back. This was the easiest of the rotations in my opinion just because there was not a lot of movement. I really tried to soak in the rotation patterns though so they'd make sense. The hitters moving to the right spot was easy. It was the stacking and keeping out of setter's way that confused the shit out of me.

It started to make sense. It was a stack with whichever front-row player was necessary then the shortest distance. Setter had right of way. I knew this part. The tricky part was how to stay out of his/her way while trying to get to your position from the stacks. I was always used to playing right next to the setter so it wouldn't matter most of the time. I had 1 stack really and that was left side when setter was back left and I was left front. Now everything was bass ackwards. I tried to split my attention and focus both on the game and on the rotation. I couldn't be the jovial guy I was used to being I suppose but I was definitely learning.

By the time I got back to left front I realized that Jazz was almost opposite me and I didn't have to stack at all. However, this rotation it was me, Bella then Angela from left to right across the front Jazz looked up and over our shoulders. He quickly looked up at us.

"Edward, stay till ball goes over. Ang and Bell, switch right off. Anybody up for some surfing this weekend? I hear we might actually have some decent swells down the coast a little ways." A few nods all around.

"Sounds like a plan. I just pulled the short boards out of storage so I'm game. How about you ladies? Any takers?" Mike asked. Skeevy perv!

"I'll let you take the short board and I'll bring the boogie boards. How about that?" Bella shot back.

What the fuck were they doing? The ball was served. It was a hard floater right to Alice who dug it beautifully up to Ja- wait… to Bella. I made my approach but the ball was way behind me. Just as my arm was up, I heard the distinct impact of a hand on a ball. I briefly looked over my shoulder to see Mike landing right behind me and turned back to watched the ball hit the court. I turned to give Mike a high five and he pulled me in.

"He duded, don't look so surprised. They'll think you're the weak link and gun for you. We sometimes make up little skits to tell each other what to do. Think of surfing the pipe. If it doesn't come to you, ask one of us later. You'll catch on, you're smart Doc." And he went on to high-five everybody else. What the hell just happened? Surfing the pipe… a pipe set was back-row to most people. OK. What did Jazz say again? He asked if anybody was up for surfing. Shit he was asking for takers for a pipeline set. He said something about the coast though. Holy fuck, I'm an idiot. Right or left. Jazz wasn't gonna call for it himself unless nobody else wanted it. And Alice might be small but she might not be able to hit. Or it'd be a roll-shot given her height and back-row position on a men's net. The boards thing musta been asking for high or short ball. I didn't see that part since it was over my head. My team was a Machine. Holy shit!

We set up for the next rotation and scored the last few point to end this game. Water break and team pow-wow. I walked up next to Mike.

"Hey man, thanks for the mini-talk. I've got almost all of it now, just one question though."

"Shoot"

"What was the deal with the short board and boogie boards."

"I was telling Bells that I wanted it to be a low ball. She just told me it was going to be really low. We used the long/short board and boogie board as part of the charade."

"Fucking brilliant"

"Just remember, we can't use that one again. Word'll get out, believe it or not. We've gotta always keep our banter fresh. Otherwise the other team'll know what we're going to do."

"Got it." Just then Rose's voice cut in.

"Alright ladies and germs, how did everybody feel after that game?" there was a quick round of mumbled feedback, mostly positive, before Alice jumped in.

"K, how about Em and Rose switch this time. I can go in for whoever wants in the back row as usual, but it won't have to be Em. Just lemme know. Sound good?" Everybody nodded. "OK, now keep up with the 6-2 or switch to a 5-1?" Alice and Rose looked between Jazz and Bella. Bella spoke up.

"I'm leaving it to you guys, especially you Jazz. I'll do whatever you want me to. I'm the newbie."

"Oh Honey, you're one of the closest things we've got here to an 'ol fogie. I'm gonna say I'm opting for what I think is best for the team right now and I'm voting 5-1 with Bells in control. I'll step in when asked but I think you'd do a better job Hun, and I'd like to try my hand at hitting again."

"Anybody opposed?" Rose questioned. She was met with silence.

"OK, same rotation, run the 5-1 instead. Edward's used to playing next to Jazz so it's more stylistic differences, not positioning this time around." We did a quick team cheer and I downed another big gulp of water before heading back on the court.

I was nervous. We started off with Mike and I up front at the net and Bella setting from right front. This was the easy part. A no brainer really. No switching, everybody was where they should be. Angela served us into a respectable lead of 6-0 before the other team got a good hit on us and possession changed. 6-1. I have to say the rally scoring was still taking some getting used to but I was getting there. We sided out almost instantly and it was Bella's turn to serve. We now had Jazz up front and all of our girls in back. This made me kinda nervous. The other rec leagues I'd played in before made us go on the court boy-girl. Granted I thought it was dumb but a row of guys and a row of girls also made me nervous. I don't really know why. On the other hand, Bella was going to be setting so that really left the back to Rose and Ang. Jazz was also cheating back some since he was switching to right side. I felt pretty confident that if the strong side hitter from the opposition tried to dink they'd be S.O.L. and the same if the weak side hitter went cross. I was good at garbage collecting so no worries there.

It turns out Bella had a wicked serve. A hard floater that tended to go deep. Almost surprising considering she spent so little time hitting and using the full rotation of her shoulder but I was going to be the last one to argue anything considering she was acing right and left. I just sat back and watched the ball sail over my head and land hard over and over and over. It started to get boring somewhere around 15-1 and she changed it up and lobbed it just over the net. Their setter dove for it and they were able to set it up for a hit. At least it was coming over. I was dangerously close to getting caught on my heels at this point. We got a decent rally going before they hit and the ball bounced off of Mike's block. 15-2.

Suddenly, there was that tingling on my hip again. Sure enough, my new teammate Bella was walking beside me with her hand on me as she talked to Jasper about when to break to position. It seemed Bella was a fairly touchy person. Oh well.

We continued on with Bella and I talked more and more about her sets up to me. After each hit, she'd look at me, I'd ask for higher, lower, closer to the net, whatever. We got my average set preference down and occasionally threw in a quick set to start working on that timing as well as back sets to Jasper and the various outside hits over to Mike.

We had a few missteps here and there getting used to the rotation and each other's styles but for the most part we were doing pretty well. Soon the game was over and not long after that we'd won the match. I was thoroughly surprised that everything went as smoothly as it did. It was our first real showing as a team and it turned out relatively well. It felt really good to play something again. I missed basketball with the guys lately but this was good too.

We grabbed all of our stuff and started to head out to the cars. Alice came up beside me.

"Hey, good job today. I know you were kinda stressed out about not being with Jazz and learning a new setter. You handled it well." We'd worked out way out to the lot and there weren't many cars left. I was surprised when Jazz started walking in the opposite direction.

"No worries. We had to drive separately tonight. I'm actually parked over by you. Do you mind being my knight in shiny armor and walking with me?"

"HAHA, Alice, isn't it 'shining' armor?"

"PHFFFT, whatever. I like shiny things better." I shook my head at her. Just as we were getting to the cars Alice turned to me.

"So I was watching you during the game. You looked a bit confused there for a bit. Was it something about the game?" This could have been a number of things.

"When was it that you noticed?"

"Your biggest confuddled moments seemed to be when you two were stacking up at the net. It was like you were thinking too hard about what you had to do." I couldn't help but smirk.

"Not quite that. I'm just not used to someone being so touchy-feely while playing any sorts of sports game. It was a little strange for me. I haven't played on many co-ed teams before though so I'm not sure if that's a female thing or a Bella thing."Alice couldn't hold in the laughter.

"Well, a little of both. Females can be a little more feely during games, but Bella has never been shy about having her hands on someone during the game. She's often had to help guide people into proper spots. Sometimes it's easier to move you than tell you where to go. Talking can take too much time. I can tell you she doesn't mean anything bad by it."

"No no no, I don't mean that. It's just that it felt almost good, and warm too. Being touched, besides a slap on some random body part during basketball, is something I kinda miss." Looking down at the pavement I sighed. "Alice, please don't get me wrong. It just made me think. I've been working so much I've hardly had time for any of you, let alone a relationship. I think I talk to my parents most of all and that's mostly because I call Dad with questions about work stuff. I live a sad and lonely life for the most part. I mean even my friends at work who work as much as I do seem to get more of a personal life than I do. It needs to change."

Alice reached up and brushed some hair out from in front of my eyes. Things are going to change Edward. We all love you, you know this. Now that you know that you want things to be different, you will start to make that happen. I promise, things will get better and we'll all help you get there. As far as the Bella/touching thing… Bella is a physical person on the court. With us girls, she's cuddly. I can honestly say I don't know how well that translates into other arenas. I haven't seen her date much at all so I can't say if she's like that with all guys. During college we'd hardly met Em and Jazz so we didn't have those situations to watch her with either. Don't be surprised if she only really gets close on the court and also don't be surprised if she hangs all over everybody. I have a hunch she's been through a lot. She's the same Bella but different all the same."

"Understood."

"Wanna hug?" My heart swelled.

"Yes, please" And with that, my maybe not even 5 foot pixie friend tried to squeeze the life out of me. It was all I could do just to keep holding on. I didn't want to let go. After what seemed to be minutes, we finally pulled back. "Thank you Al. I appreciate everything. You've always been really great to me."

"You betcha. Now get home and get to bed. I know you don't get much sleep anymore. Oh, and dinner's tomorrow night and Rose and Em's."

"I'm off tomorrow so I'll be there. Even if they call in with a bonus, I'll tell them I've got a family thing." She winked at me and twirled over to her car. I waited to get into mine until she was strapped in and driving off. Jasper would have had my balls if something had happened to Alice while I'd taken off. I wouldn't have blamed him. My mom raised my better than that.

As I drove my tired butt back home I thought back to what I'd learned today. First was that we actually did all work pretty well as a team. I had nothing to worry about. Second, I really, really missed my friends. I had a few changes to make.

**AN: How many of you that are reading this story actually know volleyball and the terminology? I realize I'm using a lot of slang that is probably either regional or team specific. Feel free to ask questions. **

**PSA: Migraines suck. I say this from YRS of experience and watching family members and patients go through them. Many people out there don't know if what they're experiencing really is a migraine or not or how to control it. Part of the key to treatment is finding a healthcare professional who understands how migraines work, this may take several tries. This can be your PCP or a neurologist but also learning about your triggers and avoiding them. This may mean giving up things like artificial sweeteners (nutra-sweet/aspartame, splenda/sucralose), certain cheeses, grapes/raisins/wine, chocolate, and many more. Triggers come in all varieties, feel free to google them, everybody's experiences are different. Oh, and Migraine can be hereditary. **


	14. The Lull

**AN: SM owns Twilight characters**

**Chapter 14 – The Lull**

**BPOV**

We collected our belongings and headed out. I was quiet, I usually was. Post-game time was my time to reflect on the game. What went well, what was shit. It'd been my routine since the year I started playing. Music to amp up and silence to quell the throbbing beat. It was routine, it was safe.

I have to say the game wasn't a bad one in the least. We won. Plus the team was all together for the first time. That included Edward and I, finally. Alice warned me he was nervous. He really didn't need to be. He'd played with the rest of the gang for the last couple years and I was a nice person. We all knew he'd play just fine. There was always a bit of an adjustment period when you switch up a rotation or bring in new players, but sometimes that's part of the fun. Either way he did well in the end. We all worked well together really. We had a few missteps, but nothing huge. The team we were playing was pretty good too. Not super fantastic but not bad either. Rose and Em were my constants for middle. Rose and I knew how to play off of each other. There was no doubt what the other was going to do just by a quick look or a slight change in body position. We were very in tune to each other, it was pure instinct at this point. When Alice was in the back row, she covered us like we were of one mind. Our coach used to joke around that we were triplets separated at birth or something equally as silly. And I had to admit that Em had learned well from Rose. I would almost bet that they had many a conversation after games about strategy and how to improve on situations like what had happened. I wouldn't want to be in the car with them honestly.

Angela had a natural athleticism and had played volleyball before so we only had to fine tune her style to ours so we gelled a bit better. Mike had been getting better and better. He'd been a basketball player most of his life but had a cousin or best friend or somebody that had started teaching him volleyball and took to it. His original teacher wasn't much for higher order skills though so we'd been working with him. Mike's attack was getting much better. Rose had been working on his form lately and it was showing. He wasn't aiming for the back wall anymore. He was regularly nailing inside the court and getting closer and closer to inside the 10-foot line every game. He was also getting a hell of a lot better at reading the block. I was proud to say only 3 balls ended in a side out off the other teams block for him today. Much improved over his previous couple games.

Jazz was taking well to hitting again. You could see the joy on his face when he made good contact and nailed the play. I was concerned he was thinking too hard though. A problem a lot of setters have when they switch to hitting is paying too much attention to the game prior to the hit and not enough to see where the holes are to work on aiming the hit. When a setter goes to "hit" the ball, we tend to get lucky if we make a point or side it out. Our brains are just wrapped around too much of what's going on on our side of the net. See a setter pays attention to who's hitting well, who's snap is killer or who's tripping over their feet, who might be out of position and not able to take a hit or who might be in perfect position to trip up the opposing team. We, as setters, primarily pay attention to the hitters on the other team too in terms of their style. Who's a big blocker, who's a righty or lefty, who likes to dink. We tend to not look for holes as much. We're not sending the ball over the net often. When a hitter used to be a setter their mind sometimes has a hard time switching from watching our side, to watching their side. Most of the time, it self-corrects real quick, but sometimes, you need a little boost.

I decided to see how Jazz did Sunday on his own then if I needed to open my bit fat trap I'd do it. This brings me to Edward. I had virgin eyes on him today. Rose and Alice know I don't like to be told much about people I'm going to be playing with, at least stylistically. Personality wise, sure, which is why Alice had no qualms telling me he was nervous. Apparently he wasn't a nervous person all the time, though. And the gang had told me bits and pieces here and there about my new friend.

He had a big heart. I knew he was an ER doc at our hospital so I'd eventually be working with him but he was finishing up his last two rotations in other departments in the hospital. One in Ortho and one in Obstetrics, simultaneously, which was curious, but I wasn't going to question too much. I wondered if he worked with Peter at all, but that was a conversation for another day. Apparently, the gang had told him I was a new nurse in the hospital but hadn't told him where so I was pretty sure he hadn't figured out I was in his department. I was hoping he was one of the decent docs. You can have a heart of gold and be a so-so doc or a shoddy doc. You can also just be a jerk. I was hopeful that wasn't the case given my friend's opinions but they'd never worked with him so far as I knew so I could only cross my fingers. No matter how he was in the sterile walls of the hospital, on the court, Edward proved to be able to hold his own. His skills at the net were a little skittish, but I was warned he was nervous. He's unfamiliar with the rotation and had to be coaxed into position at times, but he didn't get confused too easily and when he did, he quickly righted himself. Once his nervousness began to wane it was pretty smooth sailing really.

As I stepped up to my car, Rose stepped up to greet me. I almost didn't notice her really. I was honestly surprised I'd gotten so far in my thought process with so little time. I wasn't parked that far back in the lot, I guess my mind was skipping around a lot. I felt a little more energized than normal after a game really. Pins and needles almost. A strange sensation.

"Hey, got a sec?" Jazz and Em walked up right behind her.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jazz stepped forward.

"We didn't want to ruin your post-game process, but I just wanted to say thanks for everything today. The game could have gone a lot differently. I feel pretty good about how it turned out all things considering." His huge grin was hard to ignore. I couldn't help but grin right back. I looked to the others and Em was bouncing from foot to foot almost like he had to pee. The bumbling idiot just couldn't hold it in. Rose on the other hand was giving me a very odd look. The kind she only gave me when she was holding her tongue which she didn't do very often. I gave her my what-the-fuck look and she subtly waved me off. Now I knew something was up, the question was what.

Jazz thanked me for helping him transition back into hitting so seamlessly. I told him that honestly, I didn't mind, but it was nice to know he had my back if I needed it. It wasn't something I'd always had.

We said our goodnight and I tried to give Rose The We'll-Talk-Look. I'm not sure if she didn't see it or ignored me. As she was halfway to the car she turned.

"Be safe and I'll see you at work tomorrow. Maybe we can do lunch and make plans for dinner. I was thinking omelets." I nod and she gives me a quick smile and climbs into the Jeep. I watch for them to drive away but they don't. Em looks at me expectantly and shoos me away for me to get into my car. The punk always waits for me to drive away before he heads out. I guess I should be thankful really. I get in and blow a kiss toward them.

The drive home was relatively quiet. No radio and just the fan on really. I re-ran some of the plays in my head. Watched Mike's approach so I could give Rose a heads up on what to watch for, he really was improving but he was predictable, anybody could tell what he was going to be doing. Edward needed a little help tightening up defense when he was backrow to a play at the net. That was a job for Alice. She was a resident back-row coach. Em needed agility coaching in general but he wasn't going to listen to me on that one, maybe Rose could get through his Ego, After all, she'd named it Fred.

I kept thinking about this stacking issue. I couldn't put my finger on anything too off. I mean there was the traditional issue of Edward not knowing where he was going all the time. I tended to guide people to their place without words. Maybe he wasn't all that comfortable with that and I just wasn't picking up on anything. I'd have to think more about this. I tended to see more of what had happened the longer I thought about something. It was kind of like watching a really head twisty movie or something. The more you watch it, the clearer it got.

By the time I got home. I had a few things to talk to Rose and Alice about. Little things really, our team was doing pretty well for a rec league, we had a good chance of making it to the league tournament. If we kept working well together we could entertain the idea of some out of town tournaments or maybe trying some beach. It's a different style. I'd only played goofing off but since you're only playing with pairs we'd have to work to figure out who'd work best together. More than likely, Alice would want to head up coaching since she couldn't do much on the net with that. That's a whole new thought though.

I pulled up to my parking spot and I'd started thinking about work today. Mrs. Horror was an interesting character. You always had those special patients that were in more pain or more scared or more difficult than your average bear. It was just the way of the world. Sad but true. For your chronic patients there was a saying, 'Which came first, the crazy or the _?' (insert dizzy, etc). There was always one too. I felt bad for the ENTs and Audiologists really. Dizzies were the worst. It didn't matter how many times you told a patient Vertigo was a symptom, not a diagnosis, they'd walk around telling everyone they had Vertigo. I got to the point I'd just tell the patient, as gently as I could of course, that saying you had a headache or blurry vision. It didn't tell us what was really going on. I knew her treatment road was going to be a process, but it could definitely work. She wasn't the first and she wouldn't be the last. Unfortunately, migraines didn't have a quick fix or a happy pill.

When I got inside, my foot ran into something and I almost face-planted into the wall. I reached for the light switch cursing that maybe we should have a night light or something in this back stairwell. I flipped on the switch and was assaulted with the sight of a box that I could have easily climbed into. It had a piece of paper taped the top with my name. I opened it.

_Bella, _

_Found this on the back porch when I got home. I hope Eli told you there's a standing order for all the delivery services that packages be delivered to the back entrance. There's a sign next to the mail slot to remind them. The pkg was big enough I had to have Peter help me bring it in when he got home, he said he'd be up till about midnight if you needed help bringing it in. Hope it's something fun._

_Char_

I think I was going to be able to get used to this set up. I had housemates but I had my own place. We could watch out for each other and yet completely escape to the solitude and sanctity of our own space. And since we were all the same age random dance parties or surround sound movie nights weren't a big deal, though I'd have to watch out for opposite shifts.

I unlocked my door and checked the clock real quick. Just after 10:30, hopefully Peter was being truthful. I got to his door and knocked. I heard a rustling around then Peter came to the door in gym shorts and a t-shirt.

"Hey, I'm guessing you found your box?"

"Um yeah, along with a new mental note to get a night-light thingy and maybe a way to put out packages along with the mail. I almost killed myself cause I didn't turn on the light."

"Oh shit, I'm sorry Bella. You want help brining it in?"

"If you don't mind."

"Let's go." We headed upstairs and Peter grabbed the box while I grabbed the door. "If you don't mind me asking, what the hell is in this box? It's not as heavy as I'd expect for its size."

"I don't mind at all… Looking at the return label… Yep, it's from my dad. It should be my backpacking gear. It's all lightweight stuff I've accumulated over the years. Since we've got some decent trails not too far and I've got this kick ass new vehicle, I asked my dad to send my stuff to me. I flew out here and shipped some boxes when I first moved so I didn't bring all that much. I'm hoping for a backpacking trip in the not too distant if I can convince anybody else to go."

"Interesting, where are you planning on going?"

"Well, honestly, I'd love to do the Mass section of the Appalachian Trail. Eventually I want to do the whole thing from tip to tip, I'll probably never be able to take the time off to go do it all at once so I figure I'll have to do it section by section. But I'd like to get an idea of the area."I'm sure there are other places for day hikes and whatnot closer than that though. I know there's a big trail in the central part of the state too, it's a continuation of one in Connecticut. So that's an option too."

"Well, if I get a weekend off I'd like to join you if you go for that timeframe. Maybe even a long weekend. I'm not sure if I'd be able to take a full week off but who knows. I know I've got some vacation time coming up."

"I don't. I'll get time when I randomly get scheduled for some time. Otherwise, It'll be 6 months before I'm allowed vacation. Probation and all."

"Gotcha. Well, I say we find out who wants to go and see if we can finagle a long weekend."

"Sounds like a plan."

"All right cutie, I'm gonna head up and say goodnight to Charlotte then head to bed. Sleep well."

"Yeah, don't have too much fun with that." I couldn't help but wink at my friend Peter. He had it bad. After he high tailed it out the door and took the steps two at a time, I pushed the box over in the corner of the kitchen and headed back to take a shower.

The hot water was amazing pounding on my shoulders and back. I slowly washed my hair to allow the water time to really do its work on my psyche. My shift started later tomorrow so I knew I didn't have to get up at 4:30 which was nice. I was tempted to use my dear friend the shower head for some quality alone time but I was honestly just too tired. So I turned the water off and headed to bed. Abandoning pajamas, I hung my towel on the rack, set my alarm and drifted off contemplating all that had occurred during the game. The last thing I remember was heading to the net, Edward to tow.

My patient's heart rate monitor was racing way too fast. Then it was faster, I was in the dark though. It was as if we'd lost power and I couldn't do anything, but we had power enough to run the monitor. Then the monitor sped up and got louder. But it wasn't dark, I couldn't open my eyes. Holy shit, what the fuck, what had happened? I was feeling all over the bed and there wasn't a patient. Was the monitor hooked up to me? Why was I in the hospital?

All of the sudden I shot up. I was breathing heavy and sweating like I'd just run in the desert. Something was seriously wrong here. I looked around. I was in my bedroom. It was still dark in my room but that awful sound was my alarm. It was 8am. My shift started at 9:30. I had enough time to eat and change and whatnot before heading in. My heart was racing. Why was I dreaming I was in the hospital? I could only remember flashes really. I supposed that was better really. Usually when I started dreaming of the hospital, it wasn't because of work, it was Mom related. I guess I should be thankful that I didn't get full images of anything.

I took some deep breaths. I hadn't really had panicking before, just had these stupid night terrors. Something didn't feel right about Mom's death. I know I never came to grips with it. I couldn't dwell right now, I had to work and I had Family Dinner night and I had to call Charlie to let him know I got the box, if he weren't 3 hrs behind, I'd call him now. At some point I'd have to let the girls know what happened. They knew me well enough they probably had an idea that she was gone. I wouldn't have left her along if she was still sick or suffering, I just wasn't ready to talk yet. I didn't need to hold it in either. Not something to dwell on right now.

I headed to the bathroom to try and become human again. Luckily I woke up before the dream got too bad so another shower wasn't necessary. I have to say I loved how scrubs took the stress out of getting ready in the morning. I braided my hair today and made some freezer waffles with cut strawberries and blueberries. By then it was time to get on the road. The sucky thing about Boston was definitely the traffic.

Work started smoothly. Friday tends to be the little stuff. People don't tend to start new home improvement projects or even work projects on Friday so it tends to have fewer injuries unless you're talking the child variety. We had a few minor lacerations just taking a few stitches then we had a college student with appendicitis. Real shitty way to start the weekend. I was up when she came back. She was a tough cookie though. We did have to get contact information for her parents. Luckily they weren't that far out of town. Somewhere in upstate NY. Between the student and parents we had all pertinent information, and she was also an adult which made things go a little smoother. We also had a couple Fairly severe upper respiratory infections. Those were never fun. You always wanted to slap em upside the head for not getting in and seeking treatment somewhere before it got so bad, but there was always a reason. Just as I was helping Dr. Wood set a broken leg Jordan popped his head in and motioned for me to join him out in the hall. I wrapped up with the leg set and Jordan brought somebody else in to help finish with the casting. I guessed I wasn't going back in there.

"Hey Jordan, what's up?"

"Bella, have you met Dr. Stall?" turning to a female doctor who was quite striking standing over his shoulder.

"I haven't yet, but I've heard of you. Ortho if I'm remembering correctly? Nice to meet you Dr. Stall, I'm Bella Swan."

"Well Bella, Sara Stall. It seems both of our reputations precede us. I can only hope they've yet to fill you in on the worse of the horror stories." I liked this one.

"Nothing bad yet. I can only hope that's mutual." She nodded.

"Actually, that's partially why I'm here. I'm a bit light in Ortho today as one of my residents got called into labor and delivery and the other has the day off and a well deserved one at that. Anyway, I just got a radio we've got a 14 year old coming in with a number of broken bones including a couple compound fractures and we might have 1 that's protruding through the skin. Vitals are stable at the moment but we're keeping an eye out. The mom's flipping out. Apparently it was a sensational skateboarding trick gone badly. I'm going to be real honest here because it's what I expect and I'm pretty sure you have a healthy respect for it as well.

I've heard about your magical touch. I'm honestly not going to call it Voo-Doo. I really don't care if you dance the Hokey-Pokey if you can calm my patient down. This kid's got enough stress to cause a full grown man to go into shock and if they aren't already there I'll be surprised and we'll have to X-Ray, set and cast everything, if not go in for surgery. There's blood loss to consider as well if we've really got a protruding compound fracture. Honestly this is going to be fairly intense and I'd love to have someone in there who has a way with relaxing people. Jordan has agreed to lend you to my service for the rest of the case if your game. It's up to you."

"I'd be happy to help, but the extent of my ortho training has been whatever came through our ER in my tiny town in Washington. There will probably be a lot I'm not familiar with."

"That's perfectly OK, and expected. I'm going to have my regular nurse up there with us, Annie. She'll be able to do most everything with the equipment that I wouldn't expect you to do at all. You can jump in and lend a hand when you can. Hell, talk the kid through everything by asking questions. Annie's a really good teacher; she's been with me for a long time. We'll get everybody through this. I think part of this is going to be getting the mom through everything. I understand you're really good with family."

"Sara, seriously, just wait till you see my girl in action." Jordan beamed "But don't get the idea that you'll be able to steal her away all the time. I don't mind it here and there when we don't need her but she's my girl, got it?" Stall laughed and then her pager went off.

"That's us, you ready Bella?"

"As I'll ever be. Just so you know, I don't really do anything special with the patients, I just talk to them."

"Honestly, that's usually all it takes. Come on, let's go."

We made our way to the ambulance bays and greeted the driver.

"Mom started hyperventilating en route, kid was trying to calm her down then started having some shortness of breath, Doesn't look like internal bleeding but there's probably broken or badly bruised ribs causing discomfort. We've got compound fractures of left leg and arm. Unknown spinal injury, probably mild to moderate concussion. Ankle's too swollen to get a good idea, possible break or shatter. Kid got off lucky if you ask me."

"I didn't ask you fucker." The kid rasped out. Stall took the chart from the EMT and helped unload the gurney.

"Hey, I'm Bella, what's your name?"

"Mo"

"Alright Mo, Is that short for something?"

"I know I'm the one that hit my head, but're you stupid?"

"No, is that short for something?"

Silence

"So you want to be called Mo then, got it. Well Mo, I'm gonna be pretty blunt here… what the fuck were you doing? The last time I saw injuries like these it was a guy who got thrown then dragged by his horse."

"Ha, what a pussy. Idiot couldn't stay on top of the thing deserved to be dragged."

"This horse turned any man into a pussy really. But that's not the point. I'm guessing you weren't riding a horse. Did you fall out of a rollercoaster? Or is this an X-Game stunt gone wrong?"

"Dude, I had to prove to them that I was just as worthy of The Monster as they are."

"Do I get a hint about what The Monster is?" Before she could answer, we were wheeling Mo right back into an exam room and I cut Mom off. "Mo give me a sec." I headed Mom off and started coaching her breathing outside the room.

"Alright Ma'am. We've got Mo here now and we're going to do everything we can to take care of all the injuries. Let's go sit down. Can you tell me a little bit about what was going on?"

"She's been skateboarding and rollerblading for a couple years now. She keeps trying to prove to the guys that she's just as good as they are. They're not the problems though, it's the girlfriends of a couple of them. The guys think seem to like having her around, a girl with the guts to do this crap. There are a couple girlfriends that think she's out to pull one of them out from under their noses. It's a load of bull. She's been out to prove her worthiness since the beginning. She's needed her way to express things I guess." This explains things a bit, honestly, I couldn't tell Mo was a girl. Her hair was chin length and not a typically feminine style.

"Ma'am, what's Mo short for? I understand she doesn't want me to use it, but we'll need to make sure the paperwork is consistent."

"Maureen"

"Thank you. Alright Mrs. ..."

"Pit"

"Mrs. Pit, I need you to try really hard to calm your breathing. Mo's here now. We've got our Orthopedic team taking a look at her injuries. We're going to make sure it's just the bones and then we're going to start taking care of them one by one. There's going to be some pain and healing time but she's in one piece. We'll work on the punishment later." I half grinned at her.

"Ha, do you have kids Ms."

"It's Bella, and I don't. I spend a lot of time with them, and I know a few adults size ones, but I don't have any." Just them there was a commotion at the nurses' station.

"You can't bring that in here sir!" Pointing at the skateboards the boys had in hand.

"Then let me leave it here, just tell me where she is."

"I can't release that information sir, you're not family."

What the Hell? There was a soft gasp beside me. I turned to Mrs. Pit. She was holding her hand to her chest and tears were now slowly streaming down her cheeks.

"Mrs. Pit, do I need to call security? Should they not be here?"

"No no, those are two of the boys Mo skates with. One of them is her best friend. I'm sure they followed after the ambulance. They called me on her cell phone right after the accident. They wanted to ride with us but the paramedics wouldn't let them. Can they come back now?"

"They can't come into the exam area but I can let them into the waiting area. Why don't you sit with them and I can come out and let you know what's going on as it happens. Would you like me to update you all as its happening or would you like me to pull you aside?"

"Please tell us all. These boys have been fantastic for her. She's the one that's pushed herself."

"OK, let's go grab the boys and head to the waiting area."

We walked down the short hallway and the boys were still quite exasperated trying to get through to the receptionist. Mrs. Pit called out to them and the rushed over to meet her.

"Mrs. Pit, is Mo OK? They wouldn't tell us where she was or anything. Wait, why is there a nurse here with you? What's wrong with Mo? Shit, she's gotta be OK. Sorry for swearing. We tried to get her to stop. Jenny was being such a bitch and Mo just kept getting more and more riled up. Mrs. Pit, I'm so sorry."

"Benny, honey, please stop a second. It's OK, I don't blame you. Mo's back with the doctors getting looked at. I can't have both you and me freaking out here. Mo's the only one with her head even partially straight right now?"

Benny looked her straight in the eye and asked, "Do we know the same girl here?" I had to laugh at that. And all heads were now on me.

"Um hi, I'm Bella, I'm going to be one of the nurses take care of Mo today. You're Benny and this is?" Looking over Benny's shoulder to a quiet scared looking kid, his head slowly picked up.

"Matt, I'm Matt."

"Alright, Benny and Matt, why don't you join us in the waiting room. I'll let you know what I know right now and what the plan is so far."

"What's going to happen to her? Is she going to be OK?" Benny asked again. We made our way to the semi-comfortable chairs and I sat down opposite the three of them.

I filled them in on her progress thus far and let them know what the plan was. I also let the boys know that I was planning on coming out to let them know what was going on as soon as I had helped get Mo to the next stage of things and she was handling things pretty well. I asked the boys to stay here and help keep Mrs. Pit from thinking the worst. Mo wasn't going to be riding down any skate ramps anytime soon, but it seemed like she had at least a couple friends who cared. I left the three of them with the promise to be back soon with an update and let them know where the vending machines were as well as the water fountain. I didn't get 10 feet before a small voice called.

"Bella?" I turned back and found myself face to face with a very meek looking Benny. This was quite the difference from the kid who came barging in and tried to go toe-to-toe with the receptionist not 10 minutes ago.

"Yes Benny?"

"Please take care of her. She'll lie and say she's not in pain but her eye twitches when it gets bad. She'll close her eyes to try and get it to not show but it'll still twitch. Make her take whatever drugs will help her. She's a crappy patient. She really tries to be super tough. Oh, and I took her ring off the finger on her left hand right after she fell. I was pretty sure it was going to swell and I knew she'd want to keep it. If she freaks tell her I have it." The poor kid hardly took a breath with his explanation.

"You really care about her don't you kid?" he nodded and took a deep breath.

"She's my best friend. We take care of each other. Jenny and a couple of the other girlfriends are bitches but us guys all love her."

"I'm guessing one of you more than the rest." He nodded again. These two were either going to get stuck in the best friend deal or one was going to have to push through.

"Does she know?" He shook his head softly, keeping his eyes trained on the floor.

"She doesn't like anybody like that, plus she's on a constant quest to prove herself just as tough as us guys. That would make her soft, or at least she thinks so. Please, just take care of her."

"Sometimes a girl just needs to see something from a little different perspective. I'll do my best to keep her as comfortable as possible, Benny. But I really need your help keeping Mo's mom calm. She's pretty freaked out that her little girl's so banged up back there. Think you can help me out with that?"

"Yeah, I got it covered. Me and Mrs. Pit go way back. Thanks Bella."

I headed back and just as I hit the exam room heard a scream. It was being held back through gritted teeth. We needed to get pain meds in Mo soon. I rushed in and asked Annie if we'd ordered a urine test yet? After she asked why, I grabbed her chart from the counter and opened to the demographics page. I checked the 'female' box and turned it to show Annie. She turned to grab the cup.

"Mo, hun. It seems we've established you don't have a spinal injury, which is a good thing. Now we have a dilemma."

"Yeah? What the fuck's that?"

"We need a urine sample so we can start you on some drugs. We can do this one of two ways and I'm going to let you choose. First, Annie and I help you to the bathroom and you pee in this cup. This won't be comfortable since you've got broken bones in a number of places. They're temporarily splinted but the ribs will hurt."

"No thanks Bells, what's my 2nd choice?" She gritted.

"We put in a catheter."

"Wait, what do you mean put in a catheter?" Her eyes probably couldn't have gotten bigger.

"It's a tube that gets inserted into your urethra so your bladder can release itself. It would collect in a bag. If we have to do any surgery, we'll put one in right before. Really it all depends on how much pain you're in since I believe we've established there's no internal bleeding. Really, you've got some crazy guardian angel lil darlin."

"So my options are having one of you sticking a tube up my poo-tang and making me pee in a bag or excruciating pain hobbling to the bathroom where I'll probably still need help." She sighed.

"Pretty much. I'm sorry. The sooner we get either option over will, the sooner we can give you pain medication and you'll start to feel more comfortable. You've got a painful day ahead of you. The decision is totally up to you though. You let me know and I'm going to help Annie get stuff ready to take you down to X-Ray. Oh, I also wanted to let you know that a couple of the guys you skate with are here." Her eyes jumped up to me. "Benny and Matt were their names. They're waiting with your Mom. If it's OK, I'll give them updates along with Mom. Nothing too personal, no worries. I'm NOT telling them about the bag 'O fun if you go for that." We sat there in relative silence for a while. Annie and I got the orders together to get X-Rays of Mo's lower leg and ankle, her arm, and ribs. We were wrapping up the orders and Mo shuffled.

"Alright, let's do it."

"Which one do you want to do hun?"

"Either one's going to be super embarrassing, except if we put that thing in, it's kinda a onetime deal right? I mean, it'll be like a gyno exam and then we can hide the bag of pee right so when my mom comes in she doesn't have to see it."

"Yes, to both of your assumptions. Do you want Annie or me to do it?"

"Can the other nurse do it and can you hold my hand?" She asked quietly.

"Of course. Let me let Annie know and we'll be right back. "

A short time later, the procedure was complete and the sample was on its way to the lab. On one hand I was pretty sure we'd have no issues with drug restrictions. She was 15, however, she knew about gyno exams at this age. That's a bit on the early side, especially when her friend mentioned she doesn't like any of the guys that way.

We wheeled Mo up to X-Ray and let the tech take over. I headed down to give everybody an update and check in with the lab. The guys almost seemed more anxious than Mom. I headed to the lab, luckily her stuff was up and clean so we could give her drugs.

X-Rays showed compound but clean breaks in her ulna and radius as well as tibia which had punctured through the skin and would we'd need to help get the bone in, hopefully without needing surgery, a local would probably do given the degree of protrusion. She had 3 cracked ribs and another 2 that were bruised. She had a mild concussion that would be fine. The biggest issue was going to be setting the leg and arm and the ankle. She had a number of broken bones in her ankle. Nothing we could surgically repair so she'd get a cast and eventually maybe a walking cast to build up some strength a little later. A little more force when landing and she probably would have shattered it. After heading back to the exam room I filled Mo in on what we'd have to do. The pain would come from the setting then we'd take another round of X-Rays to ensure correct placement. We'd given her some drugs but that wasn't going to help when it felt like we were ripping her limbs off over and over. We decided to give her more drugs but I also gave her the option of having her mom in with her. She surprised me when she asked for Benny. I didn't ask questions I just went to the waiting room.

"Hey guys, we've got the X-Rays done. It's time for the hard part."

"Please tell me my baby girl doesn't have to have surgery."

"As of right now she doesn't. That's assuming we can set the bones correctly without that. We're getting ready to set her arm and leg now and she's going to be in a lot of pain. We've given her some drugs for the pain already and we're giving her more now to get ready for setting everything. I offered to let her have someone come back with her and she asked for you, Benny." His eyes shot up to meet mine.

"What?"

"She wants you to come back with her. She knows this is going to hurt a lot. Based on what you were telling me earlier I was wondering if you have a way of keeping her calm or focused?" He nodded slowly. "Ok, then you're going to be my right hand in there."

"Mrs. Pit you should go, she's gonna need her mom." Mrs. Pit just shook her head.

"Oh Honey, she doesn't want me in there. She wants you. I'd only freak her out, you know how I am in these situations. You're the calm one here. Just be brave for her and help her deal with the pain so she can come home. We'll rent out the movie store for eternity after this. Please just go." He nodded and Mrs. Pit pulled him into a huge hug.

"Come on Benny, let's head back. Technically, you're not supposed to be back in here to keep your mouth shut and just stick with me. Do not go off on your own." He followed me back, but I stopped at the nurses' station. I wanted to prepare him for what he was about to experience. "Benny, I know I told you Mo was going to be in a lot of pain. This is probably going to be some of the worst pain you've ever seen someone in. She'll scream, she'll cry, some have thrown up or passed out. I need you to be there for her. It's OK to show emotion but I need you to just keep talking to her. Calm her down however you know best. Hold her hand if that's something the two of you do, and maybe try it if you don't." He nodded, swallowing slowly, "Sometimes it's better not to look too, that goes for both you and her. I'm going to keep talking to you two and we'll get her through this bit by bit. Any questions?" He shook his head and with that we headed into Mo's room. I had Benny go to her right side so he wouldn't have to worry about hurting anything.

"You're an idiot, you know that right?" He looked her dead in the eyes with nothing but seriousness.

"Thanks Ben, now we know The Monster isn't ready. Maybe we should invest in some foam blocks so we can try not to die."

"Honestly, I don't know about your mom, but do you think I'm going to let you go do something that stupid again anytime soon."

"Bitch, who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm The Boss, we've been through this. And I say when we break you outta here there's gotta be a shit-ton of movie marathons and I AM helping you get where you need to go, got it girlie?"

"Don't call me that!"

"Alright, then we're gonna listen to the lovely Bella here and we're gonna grin and bear it while they work on fixing you up. Remember last time?" She took a deep breath and nodded. "I want you to give me the pain."

"I don't think you're tough enough for that Boss-Man."

"I'm tough enough for anything. You ready?" She took a long deep breath and told us to begin. Benny grabbed her hand and she gripped it hard with fingers dug in. We went to work setting her leg first then her arm. Mo and Benny stayed with their hands intertwined and at a certain point he rested his head on her shoulder.

At some point Mo started chanting "I'm sorry", silent tears running down her cheeks and Benny just responded with "Keep breathing hun, just keep breathing."

Once we got everything set I let them know we were gonna stop and take another set of X-Rays. We were getting Mo ready to wheel her out and she told me to get an X-Ray of Benny's hand too.

"Mo, what are you talking about?"

Tear streaming down her face she replied, "I just broke his hand. I'm sorry. It didn't break till the arm, then the pain wasn't so bad so I don't think I hurt it too much more but please take care of his hand too." I looked over to the boy who'd kept Mo calm for the last hour, no response.

"Benny?" His eyes still closed, he nodded. His hand was still in Mo's. Looking closer though, there was no pressure being exerted. I looked over at Dr. Stall. She nodded and I asked Benny to come with me while Mo went up to surgery. We went to go fill out paperwork. Apparently his parents were out of town and they'd actually signed paperwork to allow Mrs. Pit to get him treatment if something happened. Lucky us. We got everything filled out and headed up to Radiology. Mo was finishing up and we took Benny in. The radiologist said she'd be done reading the films in the next 10 minutes or so. We waited for Benny to be done in the hallway. By the time he was done, she was ready to head down and get casted. She chose black so she wouldn't have to tell people they couldn't sign or matching anything and while we were casting her up Benny's films came back and he needed a soft cast for his hand. One of the little bones in the hand had a fracture. Mo had a good grip, that was certain.

We finished getting these two wrapped up and it was well past lunch. Stall told me to high-tail it to the café before heading back to the ER. I ran up to the nursery to see if Rose was still around before heading to grab food. I got buzzed through the door after swiping my badge and a quick look from the guard. The nursery was fairly quiet, most of the new parents must be resting. There was a single baby just beginning the hunger fussiness. After scanning the room, I found Rose at one of the computer terminals. I headed over but she saw me and looked up before I got there.

"Hey, I heard you got borrowed this morning."

"Yeah, skateboarding accident, left side pretty broken. She then broke her best friend's hand when we were setting her."

"That girl's got power, I think I'd like her."

"That you would. So did you go ahead and get food?"

"No, I volunteered to take the last break time to see if you'd get done after I called down to ER and Jordan told me what happened. So let's go, the monster in my tummy's trying to escape, I need to tame him, NOW."

"HAHA, let's go."

**EPOV**

I was awake but my body had not yet fully woken. I was in that place where my limbs felt as heavy as lead or stone or something but I was completely aware of what was going on around me. I could hear the maintenance crew doing the lawn outside my apartment building then I heard the mailman pull up. Oh, have I mentioned I fucking love sleeping in. Lazy days are fantastic. I'd told my supervisors I was really taking today off and not coming in unless there was a ridiculous trauma that practically leveled the city. They all agreed and sent me on my way, Thank God!

As I lay there letting my entire body come back to Earth, the only thing I could really think about was how much I was really looking forward to the dinner tonight. I had no idea what was in store for us foodwise but whether it was good or bad or whatever, I was game. I decided to check in with the girls to see if they needed anything for tonight. I didn't have Bella's number so I texted Rose.

_Hey Hun, do you want me to make a grocery run for tonight? ~E_

I headed to the kitchen to make coffee. I was halfway done with it and still no answer so I headed to the shower. I figured Rose was busy at work or something. We still had plenty of time till tonight so I wasn't worried. By the time I got out of the shower, I still hadn't gotten any messages back from Rose so I started making a list for my own groceries and included some wine and beer to take to our get together. I really wanted to start making this event every week. It sucked to miss out on so much. Luckily, I was almost done with this crazy rotation and I'd be just on ER in a couple months.

I threw some laundry in and cleaned up around my house a bit, vacuumed since that was something I couldn't do on those days I got home late and had no energy for half the time. I went to put the vacuum away and my phone beeped. Rose.

_YES! I'll email you a list in a min. THANKS! Love ~R_

I got ready to head out knowing by the time I got to the grocery, I'd have a list. Keys, shoes, wallet, phone… I think I've got everything. As I'm walking out the door, I got another beep… Rose's list. She's quick, I'll give her that.

_5 doz Eggs, 6 bell and/or equivalent of banana peppers (any color), chedder cheese block, swiss cheese block, pepper jack cheese block, 5 pkgs bacon,3 gal 2% milk, 2 gal OJ, 2 gal cran-grape juice, 2 pkg ham-steak, 2 hot sausage rolls, fresh chives, 2 pkgs mushrooms, 2 loaves whole wheat or whole grain bread, bag of potatoes. Thanks love. If you can have everything at the house by 6, 6:30ish so Bells and I can get started I'd love you forever. You can grab keys from Em and take stuff to the house if you'd like. See you tonight, Hugs, Rose._

I had nothing better to do so I called Em and asked to grab his keys but headed back to the house to get my laptop. I had some random projects I could work on once I got there and could wait for them. Em agreed to hand over his keys. He let the receptionist at his office know I'd be coming in so he could just pop out real quick and not confuse people.

I headed out towards his office and we made the switch pretty quick. Em was curious about the menu. I showed him the grocery list and neither of us could figure out exactly what it was we were having, but it sounded good. We said our goodbyes and I hit up the health food store to get as much as I could in its organic form. I'd heard Em say something about Bella getting migraines so I wanted to make sure as little as possible was contaminated with junk. The more natural the food, the healthier we all were but the less likely to trigger a headache. I hope she knew what her triggers were or that Rose did. Some of the foods on the list could easily have had migraine trigger items, especially the meats. Between the nitrates and MSG… anyway, we'd have to see what we were making, I wouldn't open my mouth unless it was necessary.

I got to the store and loaded up one everything necessary. I also went ahead and got the alcoholic beverages I wanted to make sure we had and a few desserty things. Not knowing exactly what we were having for dinner made things a little difficult but that's OK. I'd wing it.

I headed over to Rose and Em's after meandering through the store a 2nd time to make sure I didn't forget anything. It was already 4pm. Everything got shoved into the fridge including the beer and wine and then I set up my computer in the living room. I got through my little projects really quickly so I opted to watch a movie on Netflix. I was glad I'd brought my computer here before and had their wireless password saved already. I got comfy on the couch and pulled up my show. Two episodes of my series later Rose was walking in the door.

Rose jumped slightly as I sat up, pausing the show. "Hey hun, It was kinda useless to head home so I stayed and watched a show, hope that's OK."

"Geez Edward, give a girl a heart attack. It's more than OK that you're here. I just wasn't expecting you to be sitting on my couch for some reason." I couldn't help but laugh.

"Oh hun, I'm sorry. I'm more than willing to be your kitchen slave to make up for it."

"Have no fears, you're here, so you're totally getting put to work. I'm gonna run up and take a shower. Bells is finding a parking spot and she'll be in in a min. Don't let her start without me." I nodded and Rose ran upstairs.

I packed up my computer and headed in to grab a beer. Just as my head was in the fridge I heard the front door.

"Rose?"

I turned around, "She went up to grab a quick shower. She said not to let you start without her." Three things happened at once. Bella screamed, she jumped tripping over the bag she was trying to put down and started falling forward into the couch and I startled during a very poorly timed sip of the beer I'd just pulled out of the fridge and started choking.

_Damn, that went down the wrong pipe_. I put my beer on the counter and closed my eyes as I coughed more and more. I hadn't swallowed this much down the wrong way in a long time. I tried to elongated my throat and chest but it wasn't helping. I turned around and continued coughing into my elbow so as not to cough in the middle of the kitchen. It wasn't long before I felt her beside me. She didn't say anything but she was waiting. She knew coughing was good. Not to mention, as far as anyone could tell, I was just swallowing liquid, no need to think about needing to do anything else. I couldn't stop though. My eyes were watering by this time. I heard a cabinet open and the fridge open and liquid pour. Probably water. Most people didn't drink straight tap around here. I did, but most others didn't. The coughing finally slowed and I took a few deep breaths. I felt her hand on my arm.

"Here." I opened my eyes and she was holding out a glass of water. I took it half smiling and drank.

"Thanks."

"Sorry about that. I wasn't expecting anybody else besides Rose. I tend to get spooked lately."

"No, please don't apologize. 1) it's not my house, 2) you had no idea I was here so I should not have been drinking just then and 3) I should know how to swallow for shits sake. Thanks for the water by the way."

"No problem. You said Rose was upstairs?"

"I'm right here ladies and germs" Rose walked down the stairs hair up in a bun and wearing a fresh pair of jeans and white t-shirt.

"Hey hun. Might want to watch this one. I almost killed him a min ago. Mind if I head up to take a quick shower? I had some homeless guy try to hug me at the end of the day and I just can't get the dirty feeling off."

Rose eyed me curiously. "Yeah yeah. No worries. Everything's still up there, towels in the closet. Wanna give me instructions so I can get started while you're gone?"

"Sure thing. OK, so we've got veggies and meat and cheese right?" Bella asked but Rose looked at me.

"Everything's in the fridge. I hit up Trader Joe's."

"Excellent! Alright. So clean any veggies and cut em up into bite-size pieces and put em each into their own separate bowls. Also, shred the cheese and put it into separate bowls too. We'll do the mean when I get back." And with that Bella headed upstairs.

Rose took a deep breath and headed to the fridge. She started pulling out peppers, chives, mushrooms and the cheese. I looked around.

"Um Rose, hold on. It looks like Em was the last one to try and make something in here. Let's wipe everything down and load the dishwasher with what's left."

"Actually the dishwasher's clean. I ran it this morning before I left."

"Awesome. How about you put things away and I'll start wiping down the counters. We'll load it with what's left and have more counter space and some extra dishes to work with." We got to work and soon had everything clear.

"Wow, I love how this kitchen looks when it's ready for real cooking." I couldn't help but smirk at her for that. I pulled out bowls for everything and put it in separate piles. Rose pulled out knives and cutting boards as well as the cheese grater. We got to work. The peppers confused her so I showed her how I liked to cut them and scrape the seeds. I also warned her that everybody liked to do it a bit differently.

"So what're we making tonight anyway?"

"Omletts. I figured it'd be a nice and easy dish to learn that is a great weekend breakfast/brunch item but can also be done at night when you don't want to do anything too big. Oh, and we're doing skillet fries too." Just then, Bella padded downstairs in jeans and a blue t-shirt, still toweling off her hair. She looked over our shoulders and approved.

"Alright troops, wash and peel the potatoes."

"All of them?" Rose's eyes got big.

"Yep, I'll help. You got lucky there are 3 of us. Do you have peelers or will we have to use knives?"

"I think I have 2 peelers."

"K, get em out. Somebody start washing." I grabbed the potato bag and dumped em all in the sink. I grabbed the veggie brush and went to town while the girls got out the rest of the supplies. Rose got the peelers and Bella grabbed the garbage and took off the lid. She then got 3 large mixing bowls. She put one between me and the two of them and pulled up the stools. Everybody went to town. They started peeling and when I finished washing, Bella handed me her peeler and showed Rose how small to cut the potatoes. After she cut up 1, showing Rose how to make even cuts, she let Rose go to town.

We were just finishing up with cutting the potatoes when Alice and Charlotte arrived. Bella showed Rose how to mix in the flavorings and oil. She had Rose do it in smaller batches since we had so much. Then she showed Rose how to brown the sausage and handed the ham-steaks to me to cut up and put into another bowl. Some of the bacon went into the microwave to be cut up and be an option for the omelets and some would wait to go in later so it could be served warm with the main dish. Bella was going to have all 4 burners going. 1 with potatoes and 3 with eggs. It was set up assembly line style so everybody got exactly what they wanted. I set the table and put the juices and milk on the table. Just as we were starting the procession, the door burst open…

"Damn my house smells good. Rosie I love you!"


	15. Catharsis

**AN: I don't own the Characters. Sorry for the long-awaited update. I ended up taking a job across the country and had to stop everything to get ready… but here it is.**

**Chapter 15 - Catharsis**

**BPOV**

Ipod in hand and shoes on my feet I went to meet the sun and make peace with the pavement. Today was some sort of a techno-beat with the intent to let my mind wander and zone into the task at hand. That task: figure out how to explain to the girls about Renee and how to look Oncology patients in the face without turning catatonic. Sometimes troubleshooting like this was fairly easy, or at least I found my answers quick; I had a feeling today wouldn't be like that.

I was a little over a mile into my trek when the orangy-pinks came over the horizon. I pulled over into the grass and just watched. I mean really, how many times in one lifetime does a person get to watch the sun rise in all its glory. I didn't have a fantastic view over an ocean or cliff or anything but it was still gorgeous. As I stood watching I thought about something Grandma Swan once said. She talked about the ebb and flow of life. She explained how it's in everything; the cycles of the moon, sunrise and set, the seasons and lifecycles. It was part of nature and the way the world was supposed to be. There was nothing unnatural about death, even the grief process had a cycle that brought people back to center and there was something to be said for finding one's balance, centering your Chi and Ying and Yang. Balance. I longed to retrieve my balance.

I focus on the horizon and realize that I didn't study the suns rise like I'd intended, yet, I got exactly what I needed. The sun was up above that far off line now and I knew I needed to talk to Alice. Working in the ICU, she worked a lot with grieving families. I knew enough to know that there were stages of grief and that not everyone went through them the same way. I also knew that it was different with long-term illnesses vs accidents or sudden deaths. I wasn't a mess but I wasn't completely OK. My nerves were particularly fragile, especially with our most recent events at Casa-del-Swan. I figure I needed a good cry with some girly sappy movies and my two best friends. Sounds like Steel Magnolias and Beaches were on the short-list.

I started running again and decided I was only going for the 3 mile circuit this morning. I needed to get some sleep before our game later this afternoon. I let myself zone back into the music and drift off to a place far far away as my feet found the rhythm of my heart beat.

**APOV**

::CHIRP CHIRP:: What the hell? It's not even 5am, this better not be a text message from the phone company trying to get me to buy a new service. I really hate those fucking thigns. ::sigh:: I finished putting on my socks and shoes and pulled out my phone.

A message from Bella… Movies and something to tell us. I bet I know what this is, but I've gotta wonder what happened to make her finally want to tell us. Not that she was hiding anything, she just didn't open up. But everybody has to get to that point in their own time. She didn't seem ready before. I had a feeling we were going to need girlie movies. I knew Rose was sleeping in today since it was Sunday but I sent her a quick text to let her know I was pretty sure we needed to plan for a good night when we didn't have to rush off the next morning, or at least when one of us could stick around with her.

"Hey darlin', you ready? I was thinking we might not want to go for the long route today since we've got the game this afternoon. Maybe just an easy 3-4 miles. How does th- Ali baby,what's wrong?" I looked up into Jaz' very concerned eyes and sighed.

"Bells sent Rose and me a text a little while ago letting us know she needed a movie slumber party soon. We used to do those when something was really bugging one of us. It's a vent tactic for anything from a nasty break-up, a fight, or even a bad grade. We've known since she came back into town that she "wasn't needed" back home but Bells was absolutely devoted to her mom's care. She wouldn't have come back if her mom was still in need of medical attention at all. We tried so many times just to get her to come see us for a vacation and she just couldn't bring herself to leave Forks or her mom. I can only hope it was peaceful and there weren't any complications. I wish we'd been able to go out for the funeral to help be there for Bella and her Dad but I'm glad she's here now." Jazz' arms pulled me in and my head found its way to his chest. His heart-beat calmed me and slowly I started to feel lighter.

"She's part of your family hun. I think she knows that. We weren't lying when we told Char we're a family here. We're the family you get to choose, and we'll always be there for each other."

We sat there for a couple minutes before he kissed my head and asked if I still wanted to go.

"Yeah, I need to work off some of this pent up energy." We separated with Jazz kissing my head one more time before we headed out the door.

**BPOV**

I was sitting up in bed looking around but I couldn't figure out why. I pulled my hair out of my face and looked around. My phone was lit up. Text message. I grabbed it.

_Movie/sleepover sounds great. We'll figure out a time ASAP. Ang, Ben, Mike and I are all out today. We need a 6__th__, know anybody? Peter? ~ R_

I looked at the clock and realized we had about 2 hrs till gametime. I thought Rose was off today. I didn't know Peter's schedule but once I was properly dressed I could go check to see if he was here. Wait, what was I thinking, I could just call him,

_I thought you had today off? I can call Peter and see if he's up for it. If nothing else, we can play with 5. ~B_

I scrolled through my contact list to find Peter's name. I hit send as I climbed out of bed and started grabbing clothes and whatnot.

"Bella? You OK?"

"Hey Peter, I'm fine. I've actually got a strange question for you. Are you off today?"

"Actually I am. Why?"

"Would you be interested in playing some volleyball in a couple hours? We're 1 man short of a team today and I figure you're tall enough and somewhat athletic enough that even if you've never played before you should be OK." Just then he laughed. Not just a little chuckle but a gut busting barrel laugh. "Hmm, if you didn't want to play you just had to say so buddy." Humph!

"Oh Bella, no. I'm not laughing about that. I'm laughing about your description about my pseudo athletic abilities and such. I would love to play alternate for you guys, and the good news is, I've actually played before. It's been a while but as long as you don't want me to do anything fancy like set for a junior Olympic team I think I can muddle through."

"I'm actually the setter. We're missing a bunch of middle or outside hitters, think you can handle that?"

"I believe I can."

"So when you say you've played before what are we talking about?"

"I was a power outside in college. Div I. I know some basic setting but my hands were never that good so it was better for everybody that I stick to defense and hitting." I think my mouth was on the floor. Who was this man?

"Bella, you there hun?"

"Um, yeah. How come we didn't know you played before and why don't you already play with us?"

"Sweetie, I didn't know you played on a team before just now, promise."

"Twice a week. We're near the end of regular season play but there's a tournament coming up. Here's the deal, it's our whole gang here, you've met everybody except 4 others and Charlotte doesn't play but she may be our biggest cheerleader here towards the tournament since we're all playing. We've all got jobs that are pretty active or odd hours so injury and fatigue is a risk. We've got 3 nurses and a doctor on the roster as well as one guy who's out of town a lot. There's a rule that additions to the schedule have to have 5 regular season games before they're allowed to play in the tournament. Even if you only show up for a few minutes for each, it would count. We've only got 7 games left of the regular season so your schedule might prevent you from coming, but it might be worth a shot, plus it's just fun."

"Bella! Take a deep breath hun, please. I'd love to come help out as much as I can. I also realize I'm the team newbie and I don't want to waltz in and hijack a spot on the court just because so I'll do it with your word that those that have been there get first dibs on court-time. I jump in when we need extra bodies, or if someone's tired, injured or wants a sub. Deal?"

"Deal. We need to leave in about an hour to get some warm-up time, is that good for you?"

"Sure, wanna get some food? We can see if Char's upstairs?"

"Sure, I've gotta take a quick shower, I passed out after my run this morning. Why don't you call her and come meet me at my place with or without her in 10 minutes. I'll leave the back door unlocked."

"Bella…"

"Peter, you're in the house, the door to the stairwell's locked and its 10am. Also, the cameras are on and the passive portion of the security system is going. Oh, you need a black T-shirt, as plain as you've got."

"I'll be there in less than 10."

"K, bye" we hung up as I unlocked the door and headed toward my shower. Just to be on the safe side, I locked my bedroom door and headed toward the shower sending a quick text to Rose letting her know it was taken care of and we were up to 6. I really just needed a quick one since I was going to get gross again, but I couldn't stay gross in my filth any longer. I was glad it was sheet-change day anyway. Otherwise my passing out after my run would have been extra gross.

As I headed out I put on my spandex, socks and shirt and threw jeans and a fleece over it. I walked into my kitchen and Charlotte and Peter were pouring coffee into travel mugs. Charlotte handed me my favorite mug. I checked the color and smiled. It was a good feeling when your friends knew you so well they could make your coffee for you.

"Ready?" I asked. Grabbing my duffle.

"Yep. We were thinking the 24-hour Diner. Sound good?" Peter offered. My stomach growled in response.

"My tummy votes Hell Yes!" We headed towards the cars and opted to take mine cause it was the bigger one and a bonus that actually dealt with the city traffic pretty well. Peter and I threw our duffles in the cargo area and Peter helped Charlotte up into the back seat, which she insisted on because his legs were longer.

"Hey Bells, do you think anybody would mind if I came and watched the game? I have the afternoon off and since just about all my friend will be working or playing the thought of staying home alone is kinda bumming me out." I smiled.

"Absolutely you should come. We should have thought about asking you earlier. Honestly, I thought it'd be pretty boring for you."

"Actually I used to go to all my cousin's various games when we were growing up. I've sat of the sidelines of I don't know how many baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, softball and volleyball games. The worst were the crew meets cause you can't see the whole thing."

"Well my dearest, I'm incredibly glad you've decided to join us today. I'm extending your official invitation for the rest of our games."

We drove the rest of the way towards the diner. I let them out in front and drove around the block to find parking. Luckily on Sunday's there was no need to feed the meters but that was one more incentive for people to head out and enjoy downtown in their cars. If we didn't have to head to the game after this I would have opted for the train.

I finally found a spot about a block and a half down and headed toward the diner. Just as it was in sight, I could see Peter and Charlotte through the window. Their heads were awfully close and, oh, there it was. A kiss. I stopped. As hungry as I was, I wasn't going to walk in and embarrass them right now. They deserved this. I heard my phone ring just then, perfect excuse.

"Hello?"

"Bella, did Peter agree?"

"He sure did. We're getting breakfast right now with Charlotte then we'll head in. I thought you had the day off?"

"I did. One of the other NICU nurses think she might be coming down with something so she's home sleeping and pumping fluids so she doesn't bring any germs in."

"Gotcha, no infecting the wee ones. Oh, I'm glad you called. Turns out, Peter played in college."

"Really? How good is he?"

"Not 100% sure but he played DI. He said his hands weren't all that soft but he said he was a strong outside. I think it'll work. I want him to add on to the roster and we can try and get in the requisite 5 games before off-season. He's already agreed with the stipulation that he's only put on the court if there's a need for bodies or a sub. He's against stealing playing time for someone already on the roster. I'm more than a little concerned about the depth of our roster given our professions though. Granted Peter's another doc but it's better than nothing."

"I agree. Alright. Let me know how things go. I'll let you get back to breakfast. Have you already told the team?"

"No, would you mind? I need to feed my tummy-monster."

"No problem love. Tell Peter and Charlotte I say Hi"

"Will do. Talk to you later"

I figured they'd had enough time and headed in. As I opened the door I was met with two anxious pairs of eyes.

"Bella, are you OK, did anything happen? How far away did you have to park?" Charlotte just kept looking me up and down frantically.

"I'm about a block and a half away, Rose called though and I filled her in on the plan for the game and getting Peter added to the roster." They both let out huge breaths. Just then our waitress came up with glasses of OJ for both of them. I asked for Apple Juice. We went ahead and ordered cause really, if you don't know what you want for breakfast, you're thinking way too hard.

We asked Charlotte about how work was going and how her arm was feeling. She'd started PT not too long ago and they were hoping she could go without surgery. It was really up to her arm and how well it healed. We didn't have to wait long for the food and I think we were all pretty hungry given the way it just disappeared. Soon enough we were paying our bill, or rather, Peter was insisting to pay our bill and we were headed toward the Castle. I warned Charlotte there really weren't seats but she was more than welcome to either sit on my duffle or I started keeping a folding camp-chair in the cargo area of the X (I still really needed to name him). She opted for the camp-chair and we headed in. We were the first of the team there so after making sure Charlotte got down to the floor, Peter and I started warming up.

After throw-downs and some pepper, I hear what sounds like Edward scream "Jacks!" Luckily, he'd just hit the ball and it came sailing perfectly to me. I had to admit, Peter might be out of practice but this guy was good. As I grabbed the ball I turned to look at Edward and Peter embrace in a man-hug. I headed over to Charlotte to see if she had any clue what was going on.

**EPOV**

Game day. It was a good day. Any day with a ball and a scoreboard made me smile. I was a typical guy, sorry. Scratch that, I'm not sorry. Hell, I know our girls weren't all that sorry either, they were competitive too.

I had one hell of a bounce in my step as I walked into the gym. The game I was able to get to earlier in the week to scout make me feel pretty good about our odds. Compared to the two teams that were playing we were a well-oiled machine. They had a couple guys who could pound the ball but there was no communication and definitely no teamwork.

I hit the door and what do I see but work meet playtime. Peter motherfucking Jackson peppering with my setter. Yeah, when did I start thinking of her as my setter? Not sure, but she was. Well, she was the team's setter, but I was part of the team. So there.

"Jacks!" He launched the ball to Bella and headed right to me.

"Hey man, what the hell are you doing here?"

"Um seriously dude, I think I get to ask you that. You're the one warming up with my team's setter on game-day. What the hell is this fuckery?"

"I got drafted. Somebody called Bella this morning and you guys are a man short. She called to see if I wanted to play since she thought I was at least semi-athletic and I had to inform her that I actually played in college."

"Wait, seriously? How did I not know this?" He shrugged. "OK, now explain how you know Bella. I'm confused."

"She's actually my landlord. I rent one of the apartments in her house. Our other housemate is actually here watching the game."

"Wait, Charlotte's here too?" He pointed over to the sidelines where there was someone sitting with Bella. She looked up and blushed a deep crimson. "So I'm guessing there's at least a little something going on between you and Charlotte at this point." He looked at me quickly and narrowed his eyes slightly. "Dude, she's bright red and whenever you talk about the girls you live with, you're incredibly protective. Given that Bella's not quite having the same reaction do you, it's just a guess."

He paused for a long time before getting very quiet. "We kissed this morning for the first time. I don't want to jump into anything for obvious reasons and then she just had the assault so she's still a little skittish. Yes, I'm protective of both of them but I care differently about both of them. Just don't say anything yet. Char and I are taking things slowly and trying to figure things out. Oh, and don't mention that Bella's my landlord at the hospital. I don't want to start any rumors. Got it?"

"No problem. Em and Jazz would kill me if I did anything to hurt either one of those girls. Bella, Rose and Alice have been practically inseparable since their freshman year of college and Char was adopted the minute Bella found out about the house. I'd rather not be turned to puppy chow. Thanks."

I started us walking toward the girls. "Let's figure out what's going on with the rest of the team, shall we?" he nodded.

"Hey Bella, so what's this about us needed a man to fill in? And seriously small world."

"Rose texted me earlier to let me know that she, Ang, Ben and Mike would be out today which left us with 5. She asked if I knew anybody and actually suggested Peter. I called him and luckily he was off. Turned out the fuckers been hiding secrets about his athletic prowess so we've got a ringer. Also, we're going to try to add him to the roster permanently. He's gotta make at least 5 of the next 7 games and then he can play post-season. Though, he refuses to take court time from the rest of us unless there's a need for it." I smirked. It was a very Peter thing to do.

"Do you disagree with these terms?" Peter asked.

"Not disagree per se. Especially for the rest of the regular season games I'm completely fine with this. What I think may end up being discussed as a team is team strategy during post-season. And I DO NOT want to get into a discussion about this right now. That is a discussion for the ENTIRE team, and tactics to be decided after goals have been established. I'm not going to make a decision like that for the team. Bringing you in was adding depth to a team whose roster is full of individuals whose work schedules may prevent attendance. In a perfect world all of us will be able to attend but life is not perfect, nor is it even nice. I want to be prepared for that inevitability and make sure we're as prepared as possible, including adding Peter to the roster this late into the season." We all stood in silence for a few seconds.

"OK, now that we've established that we've got a lot of details to work out, let's go finish warming up. Since Rose isn't here, I'm guessing you and Alice'll make up the new rotation." I looked at Bella. She nodded.

"You guys go warm up, I'm gonna get my hands ready a bit and watch to see how Peter would fit in best. Peter, you said you played strong-side?" He nodded. "Could you play a middle rotation if we needed you to? I'm not sure that we will, but I need to think about it." He nodded again. "K"

We headed back to the court and Jacks threw down with me a little before we switched back over to peppering. We quickly ramped up do adding hits and digs into the mix.

"Hey man, is there anything I should know about playing with these guys?" I thought about it a sec. I'd have to fill him in on the skits and whatnot when we weren't 20 feet apart.

"You know how short Alice is, she usually plays libero so we'll probably have to make adjustments for when she's in the front row. Bella sets and Jasper can though we've been using him as a hitter. My guess is we definitely will today since we'll have Alice in the mix today. I usually play middle along with Rose, but she's out Em can play middle or outside, mostly middle. We double block quite frequently and occasionally triple. Bella can set just about anything you ask her. She took some time getting used to what was a good set for me, but I didn't really have the background in the game that a number of you guys do. It might go pretty quick for you. You're probably pretty familiar with 2nd ball being setters?"

"Yep"

"I can honestly say I'm not sure how it's done anywhere else, but around here that's a very serious rule. You will end up with a Bella size bruise on your body." He chuckled. "Oh, and we do a lot of things pretty silently. Ghost hits and plays pre-called. Sometimes the only sound is calling for help. Have you played like that before?"

"Not on my college team, but on my travel team I did. My college coach had us calling things all the time, but we still did ghost hits. It was more like we were calling out our requests. Based on what we asked for, the setter would pick something, sometimes, we had codes where if a certain combination of plays were called it equaled a new play altogether. But I've played both ways. I just need to get these plays straight and we'll be good. It shouldn't take too long for us to work out a decent set if we're using a standard numbering system. Either way, we'll all figure it out."

A few minutes later Alice and Jazz arrived. Now we were only missing Em. And my luck, the second I think it, he walked in as if he owned the place. We've got our six. Now the question is how the hell are we going to set-up? Em warmed up and about 10 minutes, the whistle blew. Team huddle. We were awarded serve. The pixie started in with directions.

"OK guys, looks like everybody here knows Peter afterall. What we didn't know was that he played in college. So we're going to use it. We've got serve. Rotation is this. Bella right back, serve first. Jazz left front playing right side hitter. Edward right front with Em left back. Peter, you're going to start back center and I'm going to start front center, You're hitting strong side, feel free to double-block when possible. Coverage is more necessary than showboating so read the situation please. Anytime I'm in the front I'm garbage collector. Peter, cover Em's ass. He's no good on the digs, he just can't get low enough. We'll play a 5-1 unless we need to switch to a 6-2 so be ready for it. Trust that Bella will get to 2nd ball and trust that I'll cover the hit, be there for the block and collect garbage. Peter, you may want to play garbage when you're up front to keep is somewhat symmetric except when you're up for a hit or block. Backrow, make sure you split and make sure you cover corners and lines. Help each other out today people. We don't have bodies for injury or exhaustion. Play efficiently. Any questions?" We all looked around at each other. No burning questions so we got quick sips of water and headed out to meet our fates.

**PPOV**

The final whistle blew and we all high fived and shook hands with the other team, trying to hold in whoops and hollers but not being able to hide the giant grins.

"Bella my dear. That was amazing. Thanks for letting me join the crew."

"Seriously, man, that was fun. Thanks for hitching a ride on the crazy-train. What do you say we invite everybody over for some burgers and brew?" Haha.

"That sounds like a fantastic idea if I've ever heard one. Do we need supplies?"

"Yep. I can hit up the store if you wanna take everybody else back to the house. There's some booze still in my fridge. I'll see if anybody else wants to join me and then anybody who wants can meet us back there."

"Alright people. We're gonna do a bbq at the house. Those interested in in shopping with Bella head with her to the store. Those who want to go back and get things ready head back toward the house with me. Burgers and brews. Any special requests pass em along. Questions? Good, see everybody back at the house."

**BPOV**

The team was playing well for sure. There was a new level of seriousness in everyone. Em was trying really hard to stay low and dig as many as he could. His body could only bend so much with his mass though. That's one of the reason's we put Peter back there. We had the choice of Peter or Alice between Em and Me. In the back, putting Alice next to Em was an obvious choice, but once we got to the front, we'd be stuck in 1 rotation where I'd either only have 1 hitter, we'd have to use a roll-shot option or backrow hits or Jazz would have to set and use me as an option. None were great alternatives so we went with the other option of putting Alice between Jazz and Edward. There was still a rotation with Alice and me in the front but instead of Alice taking the shot, I could go a little further back and Jasper could take it. At least then, there'd be some speed and a decent angle on it. We talked about this before. I knew I'd have to watch the 10 foot line but we could do it.

Little by little we chipped away at the opposition. We'd played this team before, but they'd come into their own as the season had progressed and we were in a very similar boat, well except for the whole half our team being missing thing, but otherwise, we'd all learned better how to work with this particular group of people.

I headed back to the parking lot as everybody decided who would go where. I signaled to Rose and Alice that I was heading to the car. They hurried the conversations up and headed to the cars to force people to make a decision. Charlotte and Peter headed back to the house with Alice. Emmett volunteered himself to be my Sherpa and Edward was soon left standing in the middle of the parking lot. As I climbed in the front seat I heard Em cup his hands and shout back to the center of the lot, 'Dude, set the table and clean, or get to help pick out the beer and snacks! No brainer shithead!" and then he raced around to the passenger side yelling "SHOTIE NO BLITZ!" My car rocked as he yanked the door and bounced in. As I turned the key, a back door opened. All I could do was smirk as we drove out onto the street.

"Dude, did you just dive headfirst into the car?" Em just couldn't stop laughing.

::gasp:: "Yes. I thought you guys were going to leave me here."

"Did you really think you'd have to walk home?"

"Hello no! I would've called a cab. Did you guys see Alice peel outta here? She didn't even wait to see if I was going with them. Jerk."

Ten minutes later and my stomach hurting from trying to control the car while laughing my ass off… we pulled into the grocery.

"Bella, you grab the cart and us manly men will do all the reaching, lifting and grabin."

Walking up and down the aisles I started thinking about the girls and what I was going to say to them. I knew it would be better to just get it out. And now that I'd made the decision to do it, I really didn't want to wait. I wonder if I can find time just to do it tonight. We'd all be relaxed. My problem was I became an introspective drinker and I wanted them to be full aware so unless I could do it early, I wasn't going down that road.

"Would you lower the decibel you oaf, you're going to get us booted outta here. Idiot." Hearing Edward smack Em and tell him to be calm snapped me out of it enough to give them a half smile as we turned the corner. Em was grabbing random food items off the shelf. Then we hit the snack aisle.

"Bells, I need you to stand right in the center of the aisle and don't say anything. I'm loading us up. He started reaching for bags and bags of pretzels and popcorn. I turned to Edward, "Can you go grab one of those big jugs of popping corn from down there? It's like the kernals that are left in the bottom of a microwaved bag." He looked at me questioningly as I put Em's bags of pre-popped corn back on the shelve.

"Bella, I wanted that." Em whined.

"You wanted the gross, stale, orange popcorn or do you want fresh popped amazingness that we can put lots of different toppings on? Maybe make kettle corn or caramel corn or even chocolate covered popcorn. How does that sound?" His eyes lit up his head turned to Edward, "Make sure you grab a lot of that corn dude. We're having fun tonight." And he skipped down to the tortilla chips.

"Hey Bells, can we make fresh salsa? You know how I like it with all that good stuff. Ooh, and guac too. PLEAASE!"

"Haha, yeah we can, but we need to hit up the veggies if that's what you want." His nose crinkled slightly but he nodded his head. Rose had her hands full with this monster. How the hell did he expect salsa or guac to appear without the veggies. Seriously, he's a nut.

Edward brought the corn asking what else we needed. I sent him off for the chocolate, karo syrup, sugar, butter and told him we'd meet him in the produce section. I let Em throw in a barrel of cheese puffs and bee-lined it to the produce ignoring his sniveling.

"Em, you go get the beer. Remember there are going to be 8 of us. Rose is supposed to come by as soon as her shift is done. I think you know everybody's preferences by now. You got it?" he nodded and slunk off, trying to be pissed about the halt of pulling snack food but obviously enjoying the hunt for beer. Such a provider/hunter.

Thirty minutes later, car loaded and ridiculously annoying car songs being sung from the backseat… we were pulling into my street and the songs came to an end.

"Where're we going?" Edward asked from the seat next to me.

"Bell's place. Charlotte and Peter live there too though, but it's Bell's place really."

"What do you mean Peter and Charlotte live there? You guys all live together?" Then I pulled around into my driveway and shoved the car into park.

"Wait, this is… I mean…. Emmett?"

"Dude, ask Bells." Em smirked and started pulling stuff out of the back and left a slack-jawed Edward and me. I look at Edward questioningly.

"Should I stick around for these questions or can I help unload the truck?" He blinked.

"I don't understand."

"What don't you understand. I think Em explained it. This is my house and Char and Peter live there."

"But it's a house. Are you guys roommates?"

"Not quite. We each have our own places. I guess you'd call it housemates."

"But it's a house."

"Haha, you've said that already. Yes it's a house but it's got units separated out inside. Right now there're 3 but it could be 4. There's an internal staircase in the back of the house we all share."

"But it's… it was my house." He practically whispered.

He wasn't making any sense to me so I didn't say anything but headed to the back to take stuff in. Em hit the back of the truck at the same time I did and yelled. "Come on fucker, get out of the car and help us out man."

**EPOV**

What the hell did she mean it was her house? This was my dream house. The house I drove by every weekend hoping I'd get to see the owner. I fell in love with this house within days of arriving in Boston. I guess the next best thing to somehow owning it was knowing the person who did.

"Hey man, you OK?" Jazz sat down next to me on the deck.

"Yeah, I'm OK. It's just a little hard to swallow is all. I've had a thing for this house for a long time. I'm glad I get to see the inside and know it's well taken care of."

"That it is. There's also a lot of love within these walls." He said as he looked over his shoulder back through the sliding glass. Laughter ensued as Em turned around a nailed Alice in the forehead with the spoon he'd been using to mix the guac. The green goo dripped down to her nose and then the floor. I couldn't help but smile. Char laughed so hard she started to lose her balance before Peter grabbed her and placed her on his lap. Jasper was right, there was definitely a lot of love within these walls.

"Her grandmother bought this place for her years ago. She knew Bella was destined to like a big city more than her small town back home. Bells didn't find out about this place till she moved back here. Right after she got here, she went looking for a place. With the help of her grandmother who died a while back and her dad, they conned the girls to send her to the realtor who'd been maintaining the property since ol' Mrs. Swan bought the place. It was converted to apartments on the inside when she had it rehabbed. I guess the place was in pretty bad shape, but she saw the potential."

"She picked well." Jasper nodded.

"She did. Basically, after years of putting the rent payments away and paying off all of Bells debt for school and for her mom's care back home, Bells owns this place free and clear. Charlotte lives upstairs and Peter just moved in the week of the assault. He's here on a trial basis since the girls didn't want him to have White Knight Syndrome and it's not lookin like he's going anywhere." I tried to swallow a laugh on that one but it came out a bit of a snort. There was no way Peter was going anywhere anytime soon, except maybe to move in a couple flights up.

"I've missed so much. Bella moving in, the attack, Peter knowing you guys. All of it."

"It's been quite the eventful few weeks. But the girls are all good together and most of us are just fools in love." Jasper had an odd look about him and I'm not going to lie, my stomach felt like it had just dropped. "Come on, we've got some beer to drink in there. And it looks like Em could use some help being protected by my girl. She does not like to reapply make-up if she can help it."

**BPOV**

The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. The guys doing their manly duty grilled the burgers and we all drank in celebration of many things. As I sat there making more salsa, my nerves started getting the best of me. I really just wanted to tell the girls about everything now. I put the knife down and grabbed Charlotte to ask her to help me out.

"Bella, hun, are you OK, you look really pale. Do you need me to get something, or somebody. We've got a house full of medical professionals out there. I'm the least qualified to do anything. Bella, you're scaring me."

"No, nothing like that Char. I hate to ask you to do this, but can you finish the salsa. Everything's already out, you just need to put it together. I've got to grab Alice and Rose. I need their help."

"Yeah, sure. Are you sure you don't need anything though?" I just shook my head and headed toward the living room. The guys were playing what looked to be Rock Band, though I'm not sure where it came from. Maybe Peter's place. I touched Rose's arm, begging her with my eyes to come upstairs. She nodded and started over to grab Alice. Jasper turned to see us and gave me a weak smile. Alice whispered to him and he gave her a kiss on the forehead and nodded. The three of us headed to the stairs in the hallway that led to the second floor. I went straight to the couch there and silently lowered myself to the floor in front of it. The girls weren't far behind.

We sat in silence for what felt like an hour, but I'm fairly sure it was only a minute or two. I tried opening my mouth to talk, and there wasn't much more than a squeak that emerged. Someone started to pet hair and I lost it. Tears poured out of my eyes.

APOV

"She's gone." She said softly. Rose and I each took a side and just held on. "She's gone" she said again a little steadier. I could only hold tighter, knowing she needed this, needed us. After a couple minutes she slowed to a whimper and the sniffles. Rose reached over to the box of tissues and started wiping her face, making Bella blow. I held tight and pet her hair, knowing she always calmed down when one of us did this.

"How did it happen?" Rose, asked. We both knew beating around the bush wasn't going to be helpful. "Start at the beginning hun. We know you left right after graduation. Start from there. What happened to make you take off so quickly?"

There was a long pause. I felt like I could hear the thoughts processing in her head. "We went to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. It was to celebrate." She paused to sniffle.

"I remember that. You were so excited to take them there." She nodded against me.

"After we ate, they told me about mom's illness. Throat cancer. They caught it too late. She needed surgery to remove whatever it was hurting. Problem was, it had definitely spread. They had to take a chunk of her neck and almost her entire tongue. Part of her jaw too. She was so healthy and beautiful. So full of life. She looked at this as just one more thing she had to do." Wow. We knew it had to be something big. "She'd been holding off treatment until after graduation. The surgeons were on-call. They knew she wanted me to finish school without worrying about her. She'd only known a couple months but she knew nursing was so competitive. She didn't want to screw up my chances. I was so mad.

When they told me the surgeons were waiting I called for the check and made Dad change our flights right then and there. I wanted us to be on the next flight out and back to her Doctors. She wasn't going to wait any longer on my account.

We were at the airport and on the red-eye that night. The next morning we drove straight to the hospital from the airport. Dad talked to the doc and I made him let me talk to him. They knew it wasn't going to be easy but I told him I'd be there every step of the way. I'd take care of her after they did what they had to do. There was no way in hell I was going to give up on her. He told me they were planning on putting in a trach and a g-tube. I knew what that meant so after I got off the phone I couldn't do anything but hug Mom. She told me she knew everything and she'd planned for it. She'd already arranged her will and she'd been working on a video montage of old home videos and clips she recorded just for us so we could hear her voice when she couldn't talk." Bella paused and took a few ragged breaths. "She even recorded herself singing some of our old favorite songs. Did I ever tell you we used to sing Blackbird?" we both shook our heads. "it was so simple and sweet. 'take these broken wings and learn to fly'. I look back now and wonder how she knew I needed to have her do that."

"Mom's know sweetheart." And I truly believed they did. I can't imagine what they went through over these last few years.

"She made it through surgery and she was still this ball of energy. Her eyes still lit up. One of the nurses in the hospital mentioned that she was so expressive with her eyes that maybe we should consider sign language to help make things a little easier. She took it and ran with it. She found classes at the local community college and signed us all up. She didn't care if she was still recovering; she wanted us to all learn so she could talk to us whenever she wanted. We took classes every semester, including over summer. We just kept getting better and better. It was amazing to feel her to excited. She was still very much a part of us.'

"That's wonderful Bells. I know your mom was an incredibly social person. I bet she learned quickly too."

"It was all going so well for a while. After she got out of the hospital, the head of nursing offered me a job. She said she knew I was capable. I'd asked all the right questions and obviously cared very much for people. She'd looked into my degree and whatnot. Once I went through the application I started right away. Mom was so proud. The others from work would stop by and look in on her when I was at work. They played card games and Mom slowly taught them more and more sign. It was going so well until she got sick. Dad and I brought her in and the tests weren't good."

"It came back didn't it?" I asked quietly. But she nodded and took in a ragged breath.

"And the odds weren't good. She decided no treatment that go around. So we just made her as comfortable as possible and went on with daily life."

"When did it happen?"

"She went in her sleep about a month before I came out here. Dad found her the next morning. She'd already planned out her funeral so there wasn't much to do. Dad and I went through the motions. I think he was more prepared than I was. I was sitting in the cemetery when I realized my mind had wandered back to you guys and here. I decided it was time to come back. The next day I applied for a couple jobs out here. This was the one closest to the city and I knew you guys were down here so I opted for it. I had an offer in days, which surprised me, but I guess our old chief gave a glowing recommendation when his old colleague called him. I don't even know if they ever called any of my references. Anyway, I came right here. I needed to be in a new place. I love my parents and my hometown, but it was hard watching her die. I couldn't stay there then."

"I'm glad you came back to us hun. You know, we wanted to come visit you a couple time. We even talked to your dad. We knew you didn't want to leave but he told us your mom was sick. He also told us he was worried about you and how stoic you were being. Everytime we offered to come, you wouldn't let us. All we could do was hope you'd call if you needed us."

"I needed you guys so much. You were always there when I needed you though." Bells was noticeably shivering now so we all snuggled together and Rose pulled the blanket from the back of the couch to cover us up. We just sat in silence for a while before I finally heard Bella's breathing even out.

"Rose" I whispered. Nothing "Rose" I tried again. Little snores came from the far end of our little pile. My arm was falling asleep and I had two emotional balls of sleep curled up on me, the little one. I leaned my head back on the couch and settled in. If I couldn't get up, I figured I'd at least try to fall asleep.

About 10 minutes later I heard soft footsteps on the stairs. The door slowly swung open and Em poked his head in.

"You girls OK up here? The party's dying down and we got worried. Jazz mentioned you were up here before he passed out."

"Em, help. Rose and Bella fell asleep on me and I can't get up. My arm's all tingly." His body came through the door as he stepped softly over to Rose. He's quiet for a big guy.

"Here, I'll take Rosie downstairs and tuck her in. I don't think we're going anywhere tonight. We're all a little more than tipsy."

"K, take the spare room downstairs. You said Jazz was sleeping?"

"Yeah, he's on the couch droolin." Aww, my man was definitely zonked if he was dribbling.

"What about the others?"

"Peter took Char upstairs, not sure if he's staying up or going down. Eddie's cleaning up some in the kitchen."

"K, when you take Rose down, can you send him up to help me move her to a bed. They can stay up here. There are enough beds, I just need to get out from under her."

"Sure thing" and he headed slowly down the stairs with rose curled up into him.

A few minutes later I heard more footsteps. A little louder than before. Edward poked his head around the corner looking for us.

"Edward, down here." His eyes spotted us and went soft. "Can you pick her up and I'll help you get her into one of the bedrooms up here? You can take one of the others and just pass out here. I don't want anybody driving in our conditions." He rounded the coffee table and kneeled down beside her.

"Are you guys OK?" he asked looking down at what I'm sure was tear-tracks on Bella's cheeks.

"We will be. She had a rough night. She told us about her mom."

"Is she OK? Does she need help?" I shook my head slowly.

"No, she died a few months ago. Bella took care of her through some nasty stuff." He looked up at me with a sad face. "Bella needed to get that out. Rose and I have been waiting. She'll get better. She's got all of us." He nodded as he leaned over to support her legs and back rolling her into his chest.

"That she does." He whispered as he cradled her head under his chin and slowly stood up motioning for me to lead the way.

I opened the door to the first bedroom and turned down the sheets.

"You got this? I wanna go find Jazz." He nodded. "just take the next room down. Bedding's already on the bed. I'll make breakfast in the morning." And I took off down the stairs.

EPOV

She looked so defeated when I came up the stairs. She was obviously exhausted and knowing what alice told me, it made sense, but it cracked my heart to see these girls so upset. Alice skipped down the stairs to find Jasper and I walked around to the other side of the bed so I wouldn't have to turn Bella around so much. As I bent down to set her on the bed, she snuggled closer and grabbed onto the front of my shirt. I tried to pull her hands off but she started panicking and crying again. Just repeating the word 'no'.

"Bella, you've gotta let go, sweetheart." Her grasp just got tighter. I kneeled next to the bed and did the only thing I could think of. I hummed or sang really softly. Not sure if you could call what I do singing really. I tried Tiny Dancer. She relaxed some but was definitely still tense. I tried to think of another lullaby like song as my Elton John tune came to an end, the only thing I could think of was the Beatles. They had some good ballads. I went through a couple before she finally relaxed. I pulled her hands away from my shirt and tucked her in while I finished one of my favorite tunes, Blackbird. As I finished it, I slowly walked out of the room hoping she was really asleep and headed to the room across the hall. I didn't even bother doing anything more than spread out on top of the quilt.

I stared at the ceiling thinking about what Jasper and Alice had both been telling me. Bella had definitely had a rough ride of things lately. Without someone telling me, I wouldn't have known. She was one strong person. Alice was right though, she needed that cry tonight. If she'd been holding in everything like it looked like she had, she really needed a break. I'd do what I could to not be a jerk and just generally be there for everyone. I started hearing rustling and broke out of my daydreaming. Now whimpers were being added to the mix. Walking across the hall Bella's thrashing and crying out were getting more intense. I sat on the edge of the bed.

"Bella, it's just a dream. You're safe sweetie. Take a deep breath for me." I reached out to grab her hand but it didn't do anything to calm her. I remembered what one of the nurses from the nursery once told me. All creatures like their heads pet. So I reached up and started smoothing her hair, making sure to touch her head when I did. The reaction was almost instant. She was still moving, but everything calmed.

"That's in Bella. You're completely safe. Take those deep breaths for me. It's only a dream. You're OK." She turned her body to mine and curled up around the arm that was playing with her hair. I sat there for a little while longer and slowed my movements to get up. She reached for me and muttered not to go. Sighing, I started to stretch out so I could lay down. Completely on top of the covers. I wasn't going to do anything but calm her down. Once she drifted into a much heavier sleep, I was going to leave.

As I continued to play with her silky strands, my eyelids got heavy. I tried keeping them open but I was soon lost to the night.

BPOV

I woke up the next morning snuggled almost completely on top of a warm body. Who the hell was this? Then it dawned on me. Too small to be Em, and too large to be Jasper, it was either Peter or Edward and this didn't smell like Peter. Edward. Why was he in bed with me and why was he out in the cold above the covers.

As if he heard what I'd been thinking, "I wasn't planning on staying but you just weren't letting me go. It sounded like you were having a nightmare. Every time I tried to get up you'd start whimpering again. I couldn't handle it. I'm sorry if waking up like this makes you uncomfortable."

"My thoughts weren't along the line of being uncomfortable. I was wondering why you were on top of the covers, and why it's so cold up here. You're actually quite comfortable."

"I'm not sure why it's so chilly up here but I'm going to guess it has something to do with not having the vents open up here. It doesn't look lived in so I'm guessing that's why. And you were actually pretty warm.

"Shit, I didn't even think about that when we came up here last night. I don't have anything running up here since it's not being lived in. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for anybody to have to sleep up here like that."

"No worries, I bet Alice didn't know that when she told me to put you to bed and take the other room. I never actually got a chance to feel the cold. About the 3rd time I tried to leave to go into the other room that you curled right into me and then I passed out before I could try to leave again. Don't ever let anybody tell you you're cold blooded. You radiate heat like a little furnace. I call dibs sharing a blanket with you if we ever get stuck in a snowstorm." I couldn't help but chuckle. And the idea of sharing a blanket with him after tonight made me smile. I realized we were still wrapped up against each other so I pulled away.

"I'm sorry I made you think you had to stay. I appreciate it though. I actually didn't want to be alone last night. Last thing I remember was falling asleep between Alice and Rose."

"Yeah, after Peter and Charlotte ran away, Jasper passed out. Em got bored with cleaning and waiting for you guys to come down so he went to investigate. Next thing I know, he's creeping down the stairs with Rose in his arms and told me to come rescue Alice from you. Apparently, you two had trapped her under your dead weight."

"Oh No! Last time that happened she almost suffocated, is she OK?" He chuckled at me.

"Yeah, she's good. I think she went to curl up with Jazz on the couch. Come on, lets go make some coffee and stir up some breakfast for the gang." I nodded and followed down the stairs.

EPOV

I missed the weight of her and the feel of her warmth against me. I have no idea which of us moved to the other, but I'm not going to complain. My brain swirled with questions as we walked down the stairs.


	16. Ice Cream Makes Everything Better

AN: the new plot is mine, everything else is owned and published already.

Chapter 16 – Ice Cream makes everything Better

**EPOV**

I never thought this day would be so, I dunno, high-stress. It was just a rec league tournament. This was a game for fun. But here we all were taking part in what had become our pre-game ritual and people were not straying from ritual. I mean so many of us were of scientific backgrounds and yet, we were all, including myself, banking on superstition. Jazz told me at our last game it wasn't believing in more, it was more like stacking the deck. Maybe there was no such thing as luck, or maybe there was a higher power playing with us. If there was a God of Luck, you'd better believe we were paying homage.

Em had his lucky underwear. Luckily for us, he'd forgotten to change into them one day and we still won, so Rose wouldn't let him wear them anymore. He had that shit double-bagged in his duffle, thank the gods.

Bella had her warm-up routine. We'd all taken to the no talking. So it was throwdowns and wall-sets morphing into hitting drill. Silence prevailed. I could only smirk at us as we went through this every game. If any of my old coaches got ahold of it, they would have shit bricks. It's just unheard of, and yet, it worked.

Alice, Rose and Bella had gotten the rest of the team wearing socks up to our knees at the beginning of the season. Most of us brushed the soles of our shoes on them. As we were all sitting there ready for serve-receive I'm sure we looked like stamping bulls or something. The girls were now all wearing their hair in pigtails of some sort. Usually braided. They said it helped when they did any sort of dive and roll. I'm still not sure how it helped, something about not having to redo hair all the time the other way. I mean, if you're rolling over your shoulder, how does one of those tail thingies get in the way in the middle of your head? I don't understand this long hair stuff.

Peter had this leather wrist band Charlotte made him he wore. I was always under the impression you shouldn't wear anything on your wrists or fingers when you played so you didn't shank a ball, but the man had been playing for years and it never seemed to bother him.

Not sure what Mike and Ben did, but they assured me they had rituals.

Jasper listened to Johnny Cash for a full 24 hrs before every game, Alice was "over it" as she told us about it. And me, I did a little of everything.

I tried to keep it to a routine, I did the socks thing; secretly, us guys all had mini pig-tails ourselves. It was Em's idea right after the girls started it and we never went back. He found these clear min rubber band things somewhere in Rose's stuff and just handed them out at every game to us. We each took turns heading to the john and putting em in. I totally felt like a girl, did I tell you that. I also took a page out of Bella's book. She wore her headphones before every game. She didn't even get out of her car until she had them. I noticed early on that it seemed to make her a little more aware than the rest of what was going on. She seemed to see everything. And feel everything, without the distraction of what people might have been saying or yelling. I'd asked her early on what she listened to and it was a lot of harder rock. Some melody, sure, but a lot of hard n fast guitar, bass and drums. I tried it one day and I saw what she meant. It took me a couple tries to figure out how to listen without dropping an MP3 player or getting stuck in the cords (I asked her one day how she kept from killing herself and she just said sports-bra, I watched her pull it out from the back later on. Sometimes women have all the coolest contraptions.

So our superstitious behavior continued and even grew in some cases. But it was our routine. Awesome as it was.

The whistle blew. Here we go.

**BPOV**

The game was going well. You could even tell that our less experienced players were stepping up to the plate more and more. We were reading each other and anticipating well. Today's game was against a team in the other league we hadn't played before, The Pack. We'd scouted them though and I was really glad we did. We came into this game knowing we were playing against a team dominated by guys. There were a couple girls who sat on the sidelines but they seemed more like back-up. None of us had seen them on the court. The team itself was quite tall. You could even say lanky. All Native heritage of some sort. They had no qualms about intimidation tactics, but we were prepared. I couldn't have been happier about our ability to communicate silently. And they hadn't seen this. They didn't know where to turn when the team ghost hit, but I'll admit they tried. They got a few solid stuffs in too. Their serving was average; a few who could nail it in and a few who could get it over. And when they could get it in, they could hit. They were all big, strong guys, but most of their points were more the stars aligning.

At the end of our time together the littlest on the team, and seemingly youngest shook my hand at the end of the match.

"Good game Miss. I gotta tell you we were the most intimidating team in our league but you guys swept the floors with our attempts. You were all so quiet. We kept trying to read you and couldn't tell where you were going. Oh, and that backwards set. Amazing. I really want to learn how to twist my body at the last second to fake everybody out like that." I smiled at him.

"What's your name kid?"

"Seth."

"I'm Bella. Are you the setter?"

"When they let me. I'm still the kid of the group so mostly it's one of the other guys. I'm just there when they need me. I think I could do it though." I think he was right. His team was underestimating his hands. When he did get 2nd ball, he almost always made it to his target. He was timid though.

"I'm gonna let you in on a secret Seth. You can't hold back. Your hitters can call the ball but you see the whole court. They just see from the 10 foot line up. You see the blockers on the other side, you see who's doggin it and who's on target that day. What you say goes. Setter is the commander out there. It may be silent and you may take a backseat to the captain or coach sometimes, but on that court with the whistle in play, setters make the rules. Embrace that and be confident in your choices. Strategically one guy may have been the better bet, but if you can't get it there without fucking it up… it's not a good play. Use your head and think ahead. You'll be OK kid."

"Thanks Bella" and with that, he headed back to his team all smiles.

"Looks like the kid's got a bit of hero worship." A cool voice husked from behind me.

"Is that so bad? He loves this game, his team doesn't think he's grown up quite yet. They'll give him more responsibility when he proves himself, but to prove it, he's gotta start making decisions that turn out well, and not doing what they say and losing control of the ball. That takes time and slowly gaining confidence. He's got better softer hands than their primary setter but they're not refined yet. Half or more of this game is mental."

"I know, I know. It's a finesse game, not a brute strength game. It sure as hell take a lot of strength to finesse the game enough to make it look good."

Nodding, "that it does Edward, that it does."

"Rose and Em took off to get some stuff done, I offered to give you a ride. You ready?" I nodded and we headed toward the parking lot.

"You workin tomorrow?" I asked.

"Nope."

"Wanna go get some ice cream?" As he answered, the most adorable smirk appeared using only half his mouth.

"Yeah, I do. But do you mind if I grab a shower first?"

"Only if I can bum one of your showers too. Deal?"

"Deal"

Edward was an aggressive driver, but I was OK with it surprisingly. Usually I had issues when other people were as aggressive behind the wheel as I am. I guess I just have trust issues.

We didn't talk much but we had tunes. I was surprised when he turned the car on and Guster came through the stereo. I was impressed the sound quality of the stereo though. And even more impressed with his incredibly eclectic music collection. He was one of the few people that I'd come across who still carried around Guster's Lost and Gone Forever album.

"I'm noticing a lot of music with distinct beats here." He threw his head back and laughed. A full belly-laugh. And it was contagious. I couldn't help but join. When he finally stopped I was surprised by what came out of his mouth.

"You are the first person to really get that."

"Get what? All I said was that you had a lot of music with beats. I mean we've got Guster, Erin McCarthy, Theory of a Deadman, Breaking Benjamin, Kings of Leon, one and only one Counting Crows disk, AWOLNATION, Lady Gaga, Madonna to start off with and that doesn't even include the various mixes like 'Back country roads', 'Summer is here', 'Sunroof Classics'. I'm guessing they're themed car music mixes."

"Exactly, you didn't say anything about it being random or strange. And you got that it wasn't actually random. And that, Fair Maiden, is why you kick ass."

"Maiden I may be, but I don't play fair. Are you seriously trying to tell me that nobody looked at these CDs and think beats?" He shook his head.

"All they do is bitch about the complete randomness that is my CD collection. They haven't noticed that there are themes to various collections. I'm just, impressed." He summed up as he parked the car on the street and grabbed his stuff. I got out and followed him up, glad I'd gotten into the habit of packing necessities for a shower and a change of clothes.

"Before we go in, I'm really sorry about any mess that may or may not be on the other side of that door. I haven't been conscious in my place for any real length of time and I really don't remember how it looks."

"Hey, I work shitty hours too. And I've just moved into my place. No worries. I won't judge." He relented and opened the door. Not necessarily a style I'd pick, but it was well executed and gorgeous.

"OK, I lied, I'm going to judge. This place is fantastic. Is your decorator pretty versatile or are they just good at the minimalist or functional style?"

"My decorator is amazing and incredibly talented. She's actually nationally renowned."

"Guess I'm out of luck then."

"Maybe, maybe not. What is it you're looking for? It can't hurt to pass the message along. I've got an 'in'." My brow perked up at this but I opted to run with it.

"I love the color palate that Alice chose but she tends to go overboard with the furniture. I want warm, inviting. Something you can actually live in without feeling like you have to sweep your butt print when you get off. Something that can clean up well if you want to throw a grown-up party but is just as comfortable for a BBQ with the gang."

"Got it, doesn't sounds too hard. Anyway, shower time. Go ahead and take the first one. I've got a couple quick things to do. I figure your hair'll need the extra time to dry, right?" I nodded and he pointed out the towels and how to use the shower. It had this odd way of switching from tub to shower. The nozzle had to be pulled down. He headed back out to the main part of the house and I got started.

EPOV

Ring… Ring… "Hello dear, how are you? I haven't heard from you in so long."

"Hey mom. Sorry, you know the way of the hospital world. Feast or famine. I'm one of my very precious and well loved days off and something came up that made me think of my fantastic and amazing mother."

"Alright, alright. What do you need?"

"You wound me Mommy"

"HA, if you could see yourself as I do honey. You've got the fluttery, long eyelashes and the hand on your chest right about now, don't you?" hmm… OK, so this wasn't the first time I'd gone this route it seems.

"OK fine, but I really do love you lots and lots and lots." I added with my best doting son inflection.

"I know dear, just get to the point so we can move on and love each other without all the extra stuff." I could hear the laugh in her voice. My mother was great.

"You know I love you anyway. OK, so I finally met the gang's old friend from school. She moved out a few weeks ago and actually works with most of us too. Well, turns out she owns that house I've always been in love with. She and I just stopped by my place to clean up before heading out to grab food after our game and well, as most people do, she loves your design. Now you know I normally wouldn't pimp you out, but Mom, she owns my dream house. I might die of a broken heart if it's done all willy-nilly. My poor heart couldn't take it." Laughter rang out on the other line.

"Oh you poor dear. So I guess you have no chance at buying your house now. At least you get to look at it from the inside I suppose. Well, does she have any ideas?"

"A few general feelings from the sounds of it. Just what you like to work with. She didn't mention any specific ideas for pieces or directions to take it in. Just an overall feeling she wants the house to leave you with, which honestly, seems to fit pretty well with the house itself. Another reason I don't trust anyone but you." I heard the bathroom door open and Bella gently pad toward the living room. "Mom, she just came into the room, how about I have her talk to you and you two can get a feel for each other and the house. Mom, this is Bella. Bella, this is my mom, Esme." I knew Mom would jump right in. Bella looked at me started for a second, before asking where my parents lived. "Washington State" and she grinned the most beautiful smile. Reaching out she took the phone and shooed me away.

"Esme, is that you?" Pause. "I'm doing pretty good, actually fantastically. How did your magazine shoot go." Wait, how would she know about that? I looked at Bella to ask, but she all but pushed me into the bathroom. I figured I'd get the story out of her later so I didn't fight it.

BPOV

"Sorry, Esme, say that again. I had to kick your son out of the room. Which, by the way, why didn't you or Carlilse tell me your son lived here or worked at the hospital I'm working at. Wait, his last name is different from yours, is he from a first marriage?" Soft chuckling filled the earpiece.

"Bella dear, how we miss you. Edward's story is pretty simple. He wanted to follow in his father's footsteps without actually following in his footsteps. We'd given him two middle names so we could carry on some family names and when he applied for college and knew he wanted to pursue medicine, decided to start going by Mason instead of Cullen. He's very much part of this family. Just stubborn and determined."

"I can see that about him. It's actually pretty respectable. I haven't worked with him yet but I see a lot of Carlisle's demeanor in him."

"Well that's a nice way of putting it. The boy's exactly like his father in all the worst ways. The two of them make me regret not having another child just so I could have someone on my side half the time. With my luck it would have backfired and It would have ended up 3 on 1 instead of just 2 to 1. Anyway Bella dear, Edward tells me that you own his most favorite piece of property in Boston and you were looking for some ideas or help with some design work. Is that about right?"

"It is. I had no idea that his designer was you Esme. I knew you travelled to work sometimes, but it just didn't hit me."

"Not surprising dear, you've had a lot on your plate. Now tell me about this house my son has been drooling about." I launched into the story of how I came to be in possession of one of the most beautiful houses I'd ever seen and what we'd done so far and what I was looking for. I asked if she might be able to push me in any directions.

"I'll do you one better. Send me as many pictures of the floors you want to work with. The other apartments if you'd like. I can work with each of your tenants if you'd like too. I'll work up some ideas and lets see here… It seems my schedule is open in 2 weeks. I've been wanting to come visit my son, and this gives me the perfect excuse where he can't how out claiming to be too busy." I couldn't help agree. Edward walked out of the bathroom in his towel just then, gave me an odd and questioning look and headed down the hall to what I only guess was his bedroom.

"Bella! Bella! Bella Marie Swan, are you listening to me?" Shit!

"Sorry Esme, Edward just distracted me a little. What did you say?"

"Please tell me he didn't walk into your line of sight wearing very little. A towel perhaps?"

"He did. I wasn't expecting that. It threw me."

"Oh Bella, I'm glad I wasn't able to see that. I would have laughed my ass off at both of you. OK, tell my son I'll be sending him a copy of my flight schedule and I expect that his guest room is available when I arrive. If he can't pick me up when I arrive-"

"Esme, if he's working, I'll make sure I can come get you." He glided into the room with clothes on and I looked so damned confused. He was damn cute when he didn't understand something.

"Alright dear. Sounds good. I'll send you a copy of the itinerary as well. Just let me know who I'm looking for when I get there."

"Sounds wonderful." We hung up and I handed Edward back his phone. He looked between it and me repeatedly for a minute.

"What the hell was that?" He finally got out.

"That was me realizing that you are the son of my Mentor back in Forks and his amazingly talented wife who is coming to visit for a while in 2 weeks. She wants your guest room. If you have a problem with that I'm stealing your mom while she's here and you might not get to see her. Also, she's going to send you and I both a copy of her flight itinerary and one of us will need to pick her up when she arrives."

He sat there on the arm of the couch for a bit before mumbling something and getting up to grab his keys and wallet.

"Should I ask what you're mumbling?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I'm just putting together some stories and realize that I've probably been hearing about you for years. Also, you just kinda just stole my mom. I'm not sure if I'm OK with that, actually, scratch that, I'm wondering why I AM OK with it. My Fair Maiden, you've got me confuzzled." I shrugged.

"OK, ready for ice cream?" He nodded slowly and we headed out the door.

EPOV

We headed out and i took us in the direction of a new gelato place a few blocks away I'd tried a couple times. It was good and simple and decorated like a French pastry shop. I had to say it was pretty cute.

"So how is it you met my parents?" My heart raced. I thirsted to know more about this enigma standing before me.

"Well, I moved back to Forks pretty suddenly after I finished up nursing school. I was home helping my mom go through some stuff for a while then she kinda forced me to apply at the hospital. As you know, your dad works there. I wasn't picky, and there was a position in ER and I got to work with him pretty frequently. He was an amazing teacher and really took the time to explain some of the things I hadn't seen and fine tune some skills or even just how to anticipate the doctors' needs and think like he would think when seeing a patient. He was great when I needed to take more time off than usual and helped me make sure I got some of the best help for my mom when she needed it. I met your mom one day when she came in to meet your dad for lunch. Apparently, she knew my mom and knew what had been going on so she just walked up and gave me a hug. I had no idea she knew who I was until then." Bella went quiet and I knew she was holding back on the details of what happened with her mom but I had a hunch I knew.

Between what the gang and my parents, I was filling in the gaps of her story. Dad would sometimes talk about his favorite nurse and her mom, his favorite patient. Forks was small so dad was a bit of a Jack-of-all-Trades. He worked the ER during certain shifts since it was such a small ER and saw patients in Internal Medicine most of the rest of the time. He got to see people with longstanding issues and even did some basic Oncology work after patients went through their major procedures in Seattle.

"Bella, if you want to talk about it, you can. But we don't have to at all." She took a deep breath and you could almost see the brave settling into her bones.

"It's not that I don't want to Edward, it's just that for so long, it's been so hard to. I didn't even tell the girls until after I got here." Blinking furiously, she looked toward the sky blinking back tears.

"The night you guys fell asleep upstairs huh?" She nodded. I didn't want to push so I did the only thing that I could think of. I pulled us to over the edge of the sidewalk, out of way, and I pulled her into a hug. I needed to try and make her feel better. I knew I couldn't take the hurt away, but if she shared it with me it might be a little easier to deal with. She gripped the sides of my shirt burying her head in my chest and I just held on. She was crying silently, but I could feel the wetness pooling on me as she melted into me. I couldn't help but feel it was wrong of me to be enjoying any part of this, but it just felt so normal to be here like this.

Bella was one tough cookie so much of the time. Right now she just needed her moment, and I was going to let her have it. We stood there for a while with my chin resting on her head. She calmed down and started to pull away. I didn't let her at first but instead pulled her a little tighter and whispered in her ear. "It's OK to let it out. I'm here for you whenever you need. You got that?" She nodded into my chest and took a couple deep breaths. This time when she pulled away, I let her. We wiped the tears from her cheeks and as my hand fell from her cheeks, I brought it down to find her fingers taking them for my own. We headed back down the street toward our goal. I didn't let go of her hand though. It was all I could do to try and give Bella a little bit of comfort. I knew she needed the normalcy of continuing on with or original plan, but I also needed her to know that I was here for her. There were very few people I felt this protective over and she'd crawled into that place inside me quicker than most have.

We got to The Gelato Shoppe and walked through the open door up to the display case. I peeked a look at her and he eyes were wide and smiling, soaking it all in. I ordered my go-to flavor choice- mint chocolate chip. Bella still looking so undecided.

"You can ask for samples if you can't make up your mind." She smiled really big and started biting her lip as her eyes darted right and left. The scoop-master behind the counter just smiled at us. She asked me if I wanted a cone or bowl for mine. I was just about to say bowl cause I have to admit, I like the little spoons that aren't quite spoons, but then I realized that would require both hands and Bella hadn't let go. So I opted for the cone after very briefly looking down at our joined hands. My cone in hand, Bella decided to taste 3 flavors. Peanut Butter, Coconut, and Caramel. Her face was adorable as she tasted each and weighed the pros and cons of each.

"I just can't decide, they're all so good" she complained.

"I've got an idea, you game for a bit of a challenge?" she eyed me wearily but nodded. I turned to the scoop-master and asked for a large waffle cone with one scoop of each.

"Brilliant, why didn't I think of that?"

"Because I'm just that good." I boasted, hoping I came across as being more playful than anything.

"Or that cocky" she countered. "But I can't eat that much, this is going to be a disaster."

"And I'll help you finish whatever's left. No worries." She was handed her cone, and I noticed there was a cone-holder at the cash register so I put my cone in and grabbed my card from the pocket of my wallet, paid and walked out.

We headed toward the park across the street. There were some benches we could sit at and finish eating. Just as we get to the bench I reach to throw out my wrapper and Bella started losing the top scoop. She went to grab it with her hand at the same time I reach into my back pocket for the extra napkins I'd grabbed. She caught the scoop and I couldn't help but laughing. She looked so helpless trying to figure out what to do. Then she started muttering but I couldn't quite catch her words.

"Oh Hun, here, put it back in your cone and give me your hand." She did just that and I cleaned her up as she continued licking her cone. This was not the best situation for my bloodflow. But for at least a little while she was back to smiling. I loved that smile. Wait- I what?… yep, I did love that smile. And if the woodpecker in my chest was any indication, I might be closer than I thought to letter this creature into my heart. It wasn't that I didn't want to- I just really didn't know how.

"What's wrong?" Her voice snapped me out of my little moment. All I could do was smile at her.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing." She scrunched up her face and cocked her head slightly.

"I don't believe you." She added suspiciously. Sigh.

"Truth?" She nodded, "Please."

"Truth is- I really like you Bella. How would you feel about accompanying me to the movies tonight?'

"Like a date?" she questioned. I couldn't help but smile. "Yes, I find myself wanting to spend some more time with you and just be. So really, I'd love to take to you dinner and a movie but I don't want to overstay my welcome." She paused for a moment and licked her cone again. The wait was killing me.

"I suppose if you aren't sick of me already we could add to our current outing. But what time did you have in mind?" I looked at my watch, it was about 2 in the afternoon.

"Well… I was going to say 4 but then I feel like you might try and have me take you home when I really don't want to let you go right now." She stopped her licking and looked at me. Sooo not helping the south of the border issue I have brewing. "What?". "How would you feel about extending our current outing to include something now and then dinner and a movie?"

She looked down, "But I'm not dressed for going out." I shook my head. "You're perfect. We can save dressing up for a different day. Today I just want to spend some time with you. I've heard many stories over the last couple years that I'm beginning to feel was probably you."

"You sure?"

"I'm positive." And I held my hand out to my girl. She took it, and we kept walking down the street toward the little park about a block down.


End file.
